The Smith girl
by YAY13
Summary: Sarah Jane has a biological daughter who is trained by UNIT and pretty awesome. She lives with Sarah Jane and lives through the same things as her new found friends.
1. Invasion of the Bane

**Hi, Yay13 here, just going to tell you a few things. I'm rubbish at putting disclaimers so if I forget, please take his as an official disclaimer that I don't own any characters apart from Penny. I have also taken several story lines from the series. There are quotes from the stories as well and I got the transcripts off .**

**This is a gift to my younger sister. The arrangement is that she gives me ideas and I write them. She tells me which episodes she wants me to write about so I put them in too. Hopefully you will recognise the episode it is based on if you don't.**

**** This one is Invasion of the Bane ****

* * *

Maria Jackson walked out of her new house and looked around. She watched as the streets descended into chaos around her. She was moving. Her parents had split up so she was moving house. Her mum, Chrissie, was mid-conversation with one of the removal men. She was ordering them about, as if she had control in the chaos. As the removal man turned away, Maria heard her mum begin to flirt.

"Mind you, not bad." her mother said with a nod towards the backside of the removal man.

"Mum!" Maria exclaimed, managing only slightly to suppress the giggles that were attempting to escape. "Stop fancying the removal men!"

Maria couldn't believe what her mum was doing even when she attempted to justify it. She shook her head and let out a disappointed sigh.

"Cutlery, go on." her mother instructed, pointing towards the boot of their car.

As Maria moved towards the car, a duck egg blue Nissan pulled into the drive on the other side of the road. The driver and a teenaged passenger got out. Both were female, both shared the same brown hair. It was clear they were a mother and daughter.

"Hiya!" Maria called, giving them a distant wave.

The woman didn't even turn. She continued up the drive way into the house. The teenaged girl turned. She was about Maria's age. She looked like she was about to wave and then opted for a silent nod instead. Then the girl disappeared inside and shut the front door. Maria wasn't sure whether to be insulted or not. It wasn't like they had been very welcoming.

Maria couldn't sleep. It was a new house so she didn't expect to. She spent the night setting up her television and flicked it on to test it.

"Bubble Shock!" it screamed a little too loudly for two in the morning.

Maria quickly turned the volume down as she watched people dressed in neon orange skate back and forth and jump over and duck under objects.

"Contains Bane!" the television said as the advert finished.

Maria didn't know what Bane was. She didn't like the sound of it, nor did it sound very healthy. It sounded like some sort of poison. Maria didn't like Bubble Shock anyway. It was, in her opinion, foul. Suddenly a light was cast around the room. It was a pinkish light, seemingly not natural. Maria glanced at her telly but quickly saw that it was not the source of the light. It was coming from outside. She pulled back the curtains and gasped. The light was coming from across the street, from the large home of the frosty old woman and her strange daughter. Maria slipped on her dressing gown and decided to check it out.

The garden gate was unlocked and Maria pushed it open with a creak. The light had been coming from the garden. As Maria opened the gate, she gasped. Several floating pink and fiery creatures were floating in the area around the woman and her daughter. The flames hung off the aliens like cloaks and they looked beautiful. Maria was amazed. One of the aliens floated down and stroked the girl's cheek. Maria watched jealously, she longed to know what it felt like. Song like talking filled the air and the woman was handed a small curved device. She caressed the device and then nodded silently at the creatures. The creatures took off.

"I liked them." the girl remarked. "They were very nice, very friendly."

"They wanted you to return to their planet to be their queen. Of course they were being nice to you." the woman said.

The woman's voice was cold as if all the humour had been taken out of it. There was love in the voice as well but it was hidden well. The woman protectively put her arm around her daughter's shoulders and lead the girl in. Maria watched them for a few moments and then darted back to her house, slamming the door behind her.

There was a knock on the door. Maria was sleepy and reluctant to open the door. She opened the door and frowned. There was a girl her age standing there but it wasn't the girl from across the road. The girl looked unimpressed. They had barely exchanged a few sentences before the girl had barged through and into the lounge. She tried to find the music channels but Maria quickly revealed that they didn't have them.

"Kelsey, what are we meant to do?"

"Lets go into town." Kelsey said, getting up off the arm of the sofa where she had perched herself.

"I haven't got any money."

"That's all right, we'll just get the Bubble Shock Bus. It's free. Every half hour. Come on, get your stuff." Kelsey ordered.

Maria sighed and got up, getting ready to leave. She tried to escape her father as she left but ended up being forced to give him an embarrassing kiss on the cheek.

As Maria walked outside, she saw the woman returning back from a walk. The girl was listening to music, riding on a skateboard just behind the woman. Kelsey looked at the girl with disgust. Maria ran across the road so this time the woman would not be able to avoid conversation. The teenaged girl didn't pull out her head phones. She watched as Kelsey followed Maria across the road. They offered each other glares.

"Hi, we just moved in opposite. I'm Maria Jackson." Maria said, holding out her hand.

"Hello." the woman replied, almost reluctant to tell Maria her name.

Maria's father must have seen Maria talking to their new neighbours because he rushed across the street to greet her.

"Hi, I'm Alan, Alan Jackson."

"I hope you're not going to make too much noise. It's just I work from home and I don't want to be disturbed." the woman snapped back.

The girl was still giving Kelsey the evils. Maria decided that she would have to ask about that later.

"Okay, nice to be made welcome." Alan said, feeling a bit awkward.

Maria looked at him in horror and then the woman seemed to remember her manners. She smiled.

"Sorry, Sarah Jane Smith." the woman introduced herself. "That's my daughter, Penny Smith."

Penny slipped a headphone out of her ear and shook Maria's hand.

"Good luck settling in." Penny said with a pure smile.

It was the first time Maria had really seen Penny up close. She was very pretty, beautiful even. Maria wondered if that was the reason that Kelsey hated Penny.

"So is there a Mr Smith or...?" Alan was asking as Maria and Kelsey excused themselves.

Her turned to the two girls and watched them begin to move away.

"Where exactly are you going?" he asked.

"Bubble shock factory." Maria answered.

"Free bus." Kelsey explained.

Sarah Jane looked at her daughter. They shared a look with each other for a moment and then Penny nodded. She put down her skateboard and pushed off down the street, following the girls but at a distance. Alan didn't notice where the girl was going. Sarah Jane looked at him as he began to explain his own situation to her. He watched as Sarah Jane began to look a bit restless.

"I'm sorry but I've just remembered I need to pick up a present for Penny." Sarah Jane said and quickly got into her car.

Alan watched as she drove off with a frown.

Kelsey and Maria exchanged numbers as they walked towards the bus stop. Maria decided that it was the right time to ask about Penny Smith. "Why don't you like that girl?" Maria asked.

"She's a loony, just like her mother. She's sickeningly pretty, sickeningly good at sports and yet she never talks to anyone, never has anyone around. All the boys fancy her, all the fit ones too, but she doesn't seem to notice. My Mum's friend Kath Ponin says that there's a place for girls like that..." Kelsey began.

Maria stopped her because she was remembering the events of the night before.

"Just because they don't talk to people doesn't mean they're loonies." Maria pointed out, fishing for the real reason.

"It's not just them. It's the things people say they do. Like one day there was this guy in school and he began to talk about this foreign place called Gallafray or something, anyways, Penny punches him when he begins to talk about the fact he's got friends from this place called Sontar. Her mum's no better. This guy Sakkib once saw her by the station, and she was talking to this big crystal thing, and it moved."

"What? Like a monster or something?" Maria gasped.

Maybe what she had seen the night before had not been a dream. Maybe it had been real. She needed to know more. Kelsey didn't have time to answer. The bus rounded the corner. It pulled to a stop and Maria and Kelsey got on. Just as the bus had been about to pull away again, Penny leapt on, picking up her skateboard.

"I hate that stuff." Maria pointed out as Kelsey offered her a free bottle of Bubble Shock from the front of the bus. They moved to take their seats. Penny keenly sat on the double seat behind them. She rested her skateboard against one seat and then listened in on their conversation, not allowing herself to be noticed or recognised.

"You're one of the two percent, then. Doesn't work on two percent of the people, and that's a fact, that is. Anyway, it's organic." Kelsey replied.

"Organic doesn't mean everything." Penny muttered.

She was too loud because it caught Kelsey's attention.

"You got something to say?" she asked, confrontationally.

"Organic is not a magic word. It doesn't mean it is any better for you than other drinks." Penny pointed out. "I prefer water."

"See two percent." Kelsey pointed out.

"There aren't a hundred people on this bus." Penny muttered.

Maria could see her logic but didn't want to point it out. She didn't want to lose her only friend so far.

"I don't like Bubble Shock." Maria agreed.

"Good on you. Keep it that way." Penny said, turning to look out of the window.

Maria followed her gaze. Penny was looking at a duck egg blue car that seemed to be following the bus. The car looked a lot like Sarah Jane's.

Sarah Jane's car slipped through the gates. She pulled into a hidden parking space so her car was invisible to the workers who were by the front door. She looked at the people getting off the bus and saw her daughter walking in. That seemed fair; Penny took the front, easier to get in but not undetected, Sarah Jane took the back, harder to get in but she was undetected. She raised her wrist and flicked back the panel. She scanned the area and then smiled.

"I knew it."

The security scan was a surprise. Maria wasn't sure what to make of it. It was different. She hadn't considered there being a security scan device in pop factory. Kelsey explained it was to protect the recipe. Maria wasn't so sure. It seemed a bit over the top to protect a recipe. With a sigh, Maria walked through.

An image of Maria's face appeared on the screen in front of a technician. A series of information appeared by the side.

"Today's first lot is going through now." the technician said. "Transmitting to the Archetype in five, four, three, two, one."

Behind him a woman smiled. She was staring down at a medical slab in front of her. A boy with brown hair was lying there, unconscious. He had an oxygen mask over his face and sensors over his body. He was dressed in a white hospital gown and there was thin netting covering him. Suddenly electricity coursed through him. The woman let her smile deepen.

"He's almost fully mature. I would even say perfect. Mother will be pleased." the woman half whispered.

Suddenly the screen brought up something worrying. It was a picture of a girl: Penny.

"Who is that?" the woman demanded.

"Her name is Penny Smith. It says she's part of UNIT."

"UNIT?" the woman questioned.

She looked at the technician with fury and disbelief in her eyes. She was sure he was lying or that there was a fault.

"UNIT does not employ teenagers!"

"This girl has UNIT clearance." the technician protested. "She might not be a UNIT member but she's had UNIT training."

"Then take her from the group. Bring her to me. Let's find out what she knows."

Sarah Jane looked at the door in front of her. She tried the handle but it was locked. She frowned then let a smile cross her mouth. Luckily no door was ever truly locked for her. She produced her lipstick and aimed it at the door. With a click, the lock opened. Sarah Jane opened the door. Her smile faded as she saw two men in orange overalls standing there.

"Wrong door."

"Mrs Wormwood, we have an intruder." a crisp voice said over a radio.

"Then dispose of them." Mrs Wormwood, the woman from before, snapped.

"They said their name is Sarah Jane Smith."

Mrs Wormwood remembered the last name from their little UNIT friend.

"Take her to my office and make her comfortable. We'll have a family reunion there." Mrs Wormwood said with a smile.

"Just a quick reminder. If you could turn off your mobile phones, that means all of you. We have extremely sensitive equipment here and the signals can interfere with the machinery. So phones off." the tour guide, Davey, said.

"What's a mobile phone going to do? Make the bubbles go flat?" Maria joked.

"Enough lip at the back." Davey called back, staring at Maria.

Then he noticed Penny, standing there a bit detached from the group. He recognised her from the notice that had been sent round. She was wanted by Mrs Wormwood. He would have to wait until she was even more isolated. He got his chance when Kelsey began to text on her phone.

"Turn it off." Maria urged.

"What? You a goodie-goodie now?" Kelsey teased.

"I would turn it off." Penny said, looking at Davey out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah and that's cause you're a goodie-two-shoes."

"No, it's cause..." Penny trailed off.

She grabbed Kelsey and Maria and pulled from them the room.

Pipes bubbles and steamed around. Maria looked in horror at Penny.

"Are you trying to get us in trouble?" Maria asked.

"I'm saving your lives." Penny replied. "You see this was the reason I tried to get on the bus without talking to you. Kelsey drew me into that stupid argument and now you two are in danger."

"From what, you weirdo?"

Kelsey turned to Maria and used the current events to back up her theory. Suddenly there was a mobile phone tone. Automatically, Penny reached into her pocket. She pulled out her phone and took the call. Kelsey rolled her eyes and began to wonder off.

"I'm not staying with her!" Kelsey moaned.

Maria watched Kelsey moved away and then stared at Penny. The girl had gone pretty much white. She was holding her phone to her ear and not saying a word, as if getting instructions. There was a sincerity in Penny's eyes that told Maria she wasn't lying. Maria found herself trusting Penny. When Penny hung up the phone, she roared at it and threw it away. It hit against the wall. Maria scooped it up and turned to Penny. She was clutching her skateboard so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

"What's wrong?"

"Maria, I need you to find Kelsey and get everyone out of the factory." Penny said with such conviction Maria actually considered it.

"No." Maria said. "I'm going to stay with you."

Mrs Wormwood smiled as she put down Sarah Jane's phone. The journalist had watched Mrs Wormwood call her daughter and practically blackmail the girl into coming into the office. They had mentioned UNIT so it was clear they were more than just a drinks company. The woman had remarked that Sarah Jane's phone was special. Sarah Jane knew that both her and Penny's phones worked on a different frequency to other phones. They were both UNIT issued. It was in case an alien was trying to find out about Penny's parentage. Mrs Wormwood, however, pretended as if the conversation over the phone had not happened and when straight into a managerial speech about the drink and how good it was. Sarah Jane resisted it all. She refused to believe it because Mrs Wormwood had to be alien or at least the drink had to. Every time Mrs Wormwood tried a marketing tactic, Sarah Jane slated it, managing to find a fault. Mrs Wormwood's attempted escalated until she was offering Sarah Jane a drink. Sarah Jane remembered the first time Penny had brought a Bubble Shock home. Upon hearing the mysterious ingredient Bane, Sarah Jane had made Penny spit out any of the drink she had tried. Her instincts told her that Bane was not a good thing. Sarah Jane stared down at the drink she was being offered and shook her head.

"I would rather die." Sarah Jane stated.

Mrs Wormwood frowned for a second before her forced smile returned. She put the bottle away and got back to business. At least Sarah Jane did, telling Mrs Wormwood about the tests done on Bane. It had resisted them all – almost as if it was alive.

"Where is that daughter of yours? I'm sure she'll be dying to talk about what must be her favourite drink."

To Sarah Jane it sounded like a threat. Mrs Wormwood was trying to threaten her using Penny.

"She doesn't like Bubble Shock. In fact, she believes that the Bane chemical isn't what you say it is as well."

"Such a pity. Her life seems to have been scarred by her mother's alien paranoia. I do hope Penny is your only child." Mrs Wormwood said.

"Yes." Sarah Jane replied.

"And her father, is there a Mr Smith I should know about."

"Her father died before Penny was born. Me and him weren't even married." Sarah Jane said.

The memories touched a nerve. She suddenly felt an anger rise up in her. Before she had found Mrs Wormwood annoying, possibly frustrating, but now she hated her.

"I don't see what this has to do with the drink!" Sarah Jane snapped.

"Such a wasted life. Maybe you should find someone to keep Penny out of the social circles that involve UNIT and such things. Well, goodbye, Miss Smith. I trust I won't be seeing you again."

Sarah Jane got up and was about to leave. Mrs Wormwood's receptionist got up and lead the way to the lift, getting in with Sarah Jane.

"Kill her." Mrs Wormwood ordered over her earpiece.

She paused and then contacted every worker in the factory.

"Kill the girl when you find her."

Sarah Jane noticed through the reflective metal of the lift doors that Mrs Wormwood's receptionist was putting a hand to her ear. She frowned. That couldn't be good. As the receptionist moved towards Sarah Jane, the woman elbowed her in the stomach. There was a tone as the lift reached it's intended floor and Sarah Jane raced out.

Kelsey was grumbling about how much of a bad friend Maria was. The new girl had run off with the weirdo. Kelsey pulled out her phone and put it to her ear. Penny had said it was dangerous but she had taken a call while they had been in the factory. Kelsey rang a friend, deciding to meet up with them since Maria had befriended Penny.

"Hiya, Suki." Kelsey began.

Feedback pounded in her ear. She screeched in pain and dropped the phone. An alarm began. Kelsey looked around terrified. A noise from above her got her attention. She looked up and screamed.

The boy under the netting opened his eyes. The alarms were deafening to him. The flashing lights were blinding. He sat up and pulled off the oxygen mask, taking a few seconds to get used to breathing. He looked around. Machines overwhelmed his thoughts. He didn't know what they did, what they were for, anything. He just knew he had to go. He began to pull at sensors, freeing himself from the table. He pushed himself up and looked around. A man was lying on the floor unconscious. That only made the boy's urge to run even stronger. He raced from the room.

Maria turned the corner, following Penny. Two guards were standing there, their backs to them. Penny glanced back at Maria and mouthed at her to back away silently. Maria began to back away just as the alarms started. She jumped and hit into one of the pipes nearly. The clang got the men to turn. They looked at Maria and then their eyes settled on Penny. Penny winced and bit her lip. She looked at Maria and then the men grabbed her. They pulled her hands behind her back. Penny struggled fruitlessly. Her skateboard had been dropped and she edged it towards Maria. The other girl was unsure what to do. "Our mother will be glad to see you." one of the men whispered into Penny's ear. "A nice little snack."

Maria over heard it. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

_Do they intend to feed Penny to their mother? _Maria wondered.

Penny was looking at Maria for help. The girl wasn't sure what to do. She took a step forwards and kicked against the skateboard. She picked it up and that was when the men noticed her.

"Another one?" one of the men exclaimed.

"Wormwood never said there were two."

"Pity for you." Penny sneered.

She ducked as Maria swung the skateboard at the two men. It clipped both of them and they fell to the floor, dazed. Before they had chance to get up, Penny was racing off, dragging a rather bewildered Maria behind her.

Mrs Wormwood winced as she heard the alarm. It had to be Miss Smith had her annoying brat.

"Find them and kill them properly!" Mrs Wormwood spat, leaving the office.

Kelsey watched as Davey and his men walked in. He looked at her with a look of disgust. Kelsey was panicking, seriously regretting not going with Penny and Maria. Kelsey whimpered at Davey who seemed totally at home near the creature.

"She is not a thing. You are the thing! She is my mother, the mother of us all."

Kelsey simply felt sick. She was terrified and felt ashamed of her own fear. Those emotions both turned to anger when one of the men with Davey stood on her phone.

"That's my phone!" she snapped.

Davey turned back up to the alien creature and smiled, beginning to sooth it.

Maria was following Penny with fear in her eyes. Penny was leading the way with an eerie calm that was beginning to infect Maria. She could already hear her heart rate slowing. As a group of guards walked past, Penny pulled Maria into the shadows.

"When we get out of here, you have to explain what is going on." Maria pointed out.

Penny nodded and turned a corner. Maria watched Penny hit the floor as if she had been pushed over. She turned, ready to defend her new found friend once again. She didn't need to. A boy was slowly getting up from the other side. He looked confused. He was wearing a hospital gown. Maria helped Penny get up and then looked at the boy. He had brown hair and confused brown eyes.

"Er, hello." Maria said.

"Er, hello." the boy repeated.

"Who are you?" Penny asked.

The boy repeated her question with a frown. The boy seemed really scared but almost as if he was learning by copying them.

"We're lost." Maria tried, maybe the boy knew the way.

The boy copied her once again and then someone grabbed him from behind. It was one of the guards. Penny leapt into action, hitting the guard in the bend of his elbow. He released his grip and then Penny kicked him in the stomach. The blow threw him backwards. It was the boy who began to run first and then the two girls raced after him.

Mrs Wormwood walked into the lab that boy was from. She scanned the destruction and her frown grew. She saw the empty medical slab and almost threw something. She put a finger to her earpiece so it switched on.

"The Archetype has escaped. Find him. And for the Bane Mother's sake, turn off these alarms!" Mrs Wormwood barked.

"Find the Archetype!" a guard shouted at the group of men following him.

Maria, the Archetype and Penny were hiding under a set of yellow fenced stairs. They all stayed silent, holding their breath.

"We need to find somewhere to hide." Penny murmured when she was sure all the guards has gone.

Maria looked around. She smiled when her eyes settled on a suitable location for them to hide. The three teenagers darted into the toilets. A few seconds later, Sarah Jane hurried down the corridor. Her eyes fell on the toilets and she decided that it was the best place to hide.

Maria tried to comfort the boy as they stood in the toilets. He was very confused by the idea of being in the toilets.

"We're in the ladies. I shouldn't be in the ladies." the boy said. "I'm not a lady."

"It's either here or out there." Maria tried but the boy was still looking a bit confused.

"Is there a sign on the door that says no boys?" Penny asked, reasoning with the boy.

He shook his head.

"Then you're allowed in, it's just not suggested you come in."

"Someone is coming in." Maria said.

"Get into one of the loos." Penny instructed.

They all bundled into one of the loos. Sarah Jane walked in and looked around. She could hear movement. She pushed on the loo door and it swung open. She stared at the boy, Maria and Penny, all squashed into the loo.

"Mum!" Penny exclaimed. "I thought Mrs Wormwood had you."

"She did but... There's no time for talk." Then she noticed the Archetype. "Who's that boy?"

"We don't know." Maria admitted.

"Why is there no time for talk?" the boy asked.

Sarah Jane remembered the danger they were in.

"We have to get out of here."

Mrs Wormwood was annoyed. Davey had just admitted to her that both of their prey had escaped, more likely than not with the Archetype. It was annoying and put a spanner in the works. It was then that Mrs Wormwood got a smell of humans. She frowned and scanned the area. She caught sight of the ladies.

"Did you search in there?" she snapped.

"But it's for their females only: we are males. Their culture says we must never go in."

Mrs Wormwood managed an annoyed growl and then forced Davey in. She screeched when she saw the open window.

Maria got out of the car she had hurriedly climbed into. It was Sarah Jane's car. They were in her driveway. Sarah Jane helped the boy out of the car and Penny lead him towards the house. Maria looked at Sarah Jane. The woman told her to go home. Maria didn't want to. She wanted to understand everything. She ended up playing her trump card, telling Sarah Jane she knew about the things that had been in her garden.

"Now listen to me, Maria. My life is dangerous, and rule one, I don't put anyone else in danger. Especially not a kid." Sarah Jane snapped. "At least, other than Penny."

Maria fought the urge to scream and then hurried across the road, about to cry. Sarah Jane turned to Penny and helped the girl with the boy.

Kelsey looked at Davey and Mrs Wormwood with a scowl. She began to rant about her phone. Then she began to rant about Davey and how he was insane. Mrs Wormwood could get nothing from her. She sighed and began to tell Davey about Sarah Jane and her pesky daughter.

"You mean the mad woman and her loony daughter? They live on Bannerman road." Kelsey said. Mrs Wormwood smiled and looked at Davey. Then she pounced on the girl.

Davey examined Kelsey. She had fainted while Mrs Wormwood had done her work. Mrs Wormwood was sorting through the thoughts she had extracted the Kelsey with a frown. They were chaotic and hard to understand. Soon she found what she wanted to know. "Miss Smith lives with only her daughter. Bannerman Road. Number 13. Just them, alone." Mrs Wormwood said with joy.

She smiled.

"We must get the Archetype back."

"Yes." Mrs Wormwood agreed. "Kill the old woman and her daughter."

She woke Kelsey up and offered Kelsey a lift home.

Penny was watching the boy with awe in her eyes. He was sitting on the sofa, looking around the room as if all of the rather exotic and mismatching furniture was beautiful. Penny found it mystical to watch him. When his eyes settled on her, they observed her for only a second as if she was like any of the other furniture in the house. He watched her happily. Sarah Jane walked in with a tray. She handed Penny a mug after putting the tray down.

"What's he been doing?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Just watching." Penny replied. "He seems so... Innocently confused."

Sarah Jane nodded and walked over to the boy with a friendly smile. She decided she had to make the boy feel welcome. It might make him more likely to talk.

"You must have a name." Sarah Jane said. "If I'm Sarah Jane and that's Penny, then you're..."

"All I know is I had to run." the boy murmured.

"But you can talk." Penny reasoned. "You _know_ how to talk."

"Who talk you how to talk?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Everyone." the Archetype replied, simply.

The look on his face was simple. That was the only answer to the question; the only answer the boy knew. It was the only way he could explain.

"What does that mean? Everyone?" Penny asked.

"I am everyone. And then I had to run. I ran into Penny and then saw the other girl, Maria. Then I saw you."

The boy looked at Penny who apologised for running into him. Sarah Jane pressed for more answers. In the end, she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere. She let the boys' gaze fall down onto the tray.

"Is that food?" the boy asked.

"Yes." Penny answered.

"Food and drink." Sarah Jane clarified.

The boy asked which was which. He wasn't sure what to do. A voice interrupted their conversation. Sarah Jane denied it. Penny didn't, she disappeared upstairs, following the voice.

"I thought Penny was your only family." the boy pointed out.

"She is."

Sarah Jane closed the door and looked at the boy. She told him not to go upstairs, not ever.

"I'm just going to scan you." Sarah Jane said.

She flicked her watch open and scanned the boy. He stared at her watch with wonder in her eyes. He wasn't confused any more, merely interested.

"Not alien. A normal, healthy lad. Human. Ageing rate normal, but this says you were born three hundred and sixty years ago. No. You were born three hundred and sixty minutes ago."

"Is that good or bad?" the boy asked, sounding confused once again.

Kelsey frowned as Davey pulled the car over. He told her to get out even when Kelsey tried to convince him to let her stay. To lessen the blow, however, he tossed a bottle of Bubble Shock over to her with a reminder to carry on drinking it. He watched her walk away and then turned to look around the street. He began to scan the area. His eyes settled on number 13 and a smile crossed his lips. He got out of the car and moved away.

Maria watched as Kelsey looked at her with annoyance.

"Thanks for abandoning me." Kelsey moaned. "You ran off with that loony."

Maria didn't want to be part of a fight. She was in too much of a bad mood to become part of it. Maria began to ask Kelsey about what happened while they were at the factory.

Sarah Jane had popped upstairs for a few minutes and sent Penny down to watch the boy. The boy had seemed nervous so Penny decided to let him have some time to relax. She picked up a book she had been reading and glanced at the boy every so often over the top of her book. At first the boy had watched her and then he had picked up a book of his own. He had held the book upside down and then he had turned it the right way. He had been slow at first, taking minutes to labour over each page then it became more rapid. He was turning pages quicker and quicker.

"You can read?" Sarah Jane exclaimed as she walked in.

"I can now." the boy pointed out.

"He just learnt." Penny remarked. "At least that's what it seems like."

"It's easy. Letters and words." the Archetype pointed out.

Sarah Jane took the book off him. The book was very advanced. It was a complex book on South American history.

"Forgive me, but, if you don't mind, could you just lift up your top so I can see your stomach?" Sarah Jane asked.

The boy nodded and lifted up his shirt. Sarah Jane and Penny both gasped, looking at the boy's stomach. He frowned and looked down, trying to find out what they were surprised by.

"You don't have a belly button." Penny said.

"A belly button?" the boy repeated, confused.

Penny slid up her top just enough so the boy could see her belly button. He looked at hers and then then down at the lack of his.

"Everyone who's born has a belly button."

"But I don't have one. Why don't I have one?" the Archetype asked.

"I don't think you were born." Sarah Jane murmured, amazed. "I think you were grown."

Outside, Davey looked in through the garden window. He caught sight of the Archetype and the two Smiths. A smile spread across his face.

Kelsey was finishing her story. She finished it by announcing that she had been driven home. Maria gasped. The boy was at Sarah Jane's! If someone from the factory was there then the three of them could be in danger.

"Who drove you home?" Maria asked.

"The muffin!" Kelsey replied.

She meant Davey. Maria was horrified.

"What? The man from the tour? He's here on Bannerman road?" Maria managed.

Kelsey looked at her and nodded slowly. Maria raced from the room and out into the street.

Sarah Jane opened the door when she heard her name being called. She looked at Maria and frowned.

"I told you, leave me alone!" Sarah Jane said, trying to close the door.

Maria got in the way, blocking it.

"But it's the man from the factory. He's on the street! He's here!"

Maria was sure that the man had come for the boy. She knew they were all in danger. The danger became clear as an one-eyed alien turned the corner. It's long tentacles were covered in suckers and fixed the creature sideways on the wall. Kelsey was screaming at it, terrified. Maria looked at it and then glanced at Sarah Jane.

"Inside! Get in!" Sarah Jane instructed.

The creature thudded against the door as Sarah Jane kept it shut. Kelsey kept screaming. Maria was watching Sarah Jane, trying to work out what to do. Penny and the boy walked out of the lounge as if they had all the time in the world.

"What's happening?" Penny asked calmly.

"Hello, Maria. Hello, screaming girl." the boy said, politely.

Both sounded amazingly calm. They didn't seem to mind what was happening.

"Get upstairs." Sarah Jane instructed.

Penny turned to the stairs but stopped when the Archetype began to resist.

"We're not allowed." he pointed out.

"I'm allowing you." Sarah Jane shouted.

She wasn't in the right situation to have a discussion. Penny took the boy's shoulder and pushed him up the stairs. She let Maria and Kelsey go in front of her to make sure they were safe.

"All of you, just run! As fast as you can!" Sarah Jane bellowed.

Her daughter looked at her. Then the door was ripped away behind Sarah Jane.

"Mum!" Penny called.

Sarah Jane raced up the stairs following her. The creature Davey had become began to chase after them. Kelsey continued to scream as they thundered up the stairs. They stopped at the top landing. There was only a door for them to go through. The creature was catching up. The group stood there, staring down the stairs. Then Sarah Jane turned and looked around. She opened the door to the attic and slipped inside.

"Where's she gone?" Maria asked.

"She won't leave us to die." Penny said with conviction.

"You will die, Miss Smith, you and the squealing pigs."

Kelsey was cowering behind the Archetype. Maria was standing near the door. Penny was standing near the boy's side. Suddenly one of the creature's tentacles wrapped around the boy. It began to pull him down the stairs.

"Help!" the boy shouted.

Penny grabbed the banisters on each side and pushed herself up, kicking the creature in the tentacles hanging below it's one eye. It released the boy and let him scamper up the stairs.

"I will devour you for that. First you, then the screamers, then the old woman."

"Hey, less of the old!" Sarah Jane shouted, pulling out an alien fire extinguisher.

She fired it at the creature. It stumbled back and fell down the stairs, turning back into Davey. Sarah Jane looked down the stairs as Davey got up and ran away. She moved down the stairs and knelt beside the curtain Davey falling had pulled down. A large clump of black gunk was resting on the stairs. Sarah Jane collected it on a pencil.

"What's going on?" Maria asked.

Penny was checking on the boy. The tentacle had wrapped around the boy's leg where the gown didn't reach. She was checking it for bruises or chemicals. Kelsey was staring at them, trying to recover from what had happened. Sarah Jane told her to go. Maria shook her head. Kelsey disappeared upstairs and there was the sound of her voice from the attic. Fury lit in Sarah Jane's eyes.

"No, don't go up there!" Sarah Jane called and raced up the stairs.

Kelsey was looking around the attic. Maria thought it was beautiful. It was over-cluttered but the things that cluttered it were strange and alien. They looked as if they should be in an art gallery. Penny smiled as she walked into the room. Her eyes danced with happiness. She loved everything in the attic. Sarah Jane became over protective of all her things. She told them not to touch anything. The boy was the only one who really listened. He was eyeing the objects with the same look he had given the objects in Sarah Jane's lounge. When the questions from Maria and Kelsey came thick and fast, Sarah Jane gave an exasperated sigh.

"I suppose you've seen too much now. It's not as if anyone's going to believe you. Aliens are falling to Earth all the time. It's not just those stories you hear on the news. All sorts of creatures. Some have got lost, like the one you saw me sending home last night. Some of them crash-land, and some of them want to invade. You still believe me?"

"Yes. You're bonkers but I don't think you're a liar."

"That's nice to know." Sarah Jane said.

"And it's correct. We're both a bit bonkers." Penny smirked.

Sarah Jane gently tapped her daughter's shoulder as if to tell her off.

"This place is beautiful." the boy said.

"Thank you."

"Your lounge in beautiful. Your house is beautiful. Your child is beautiful." the boy continued.

Penny blushed as the boy's eyes drifted onto her. Kelsey looked at the Archetype through a magnifying glass.

"No too bad yourself, fella." Kelsey said.

"What does that mean?" the boy asked confused.

Penny smiled but didn't explain it to him.

"He's mine." Kelsey finished up.

Maria gasped to stop herself from laughing at the boy's highly confused expression. She turned back to Sarah Jane so she could see what Sarah Jane was up to. She asked if Sarah Jane had back up, someone there to help her.

"The government knows all about aliens. And then there are secret organisations dedicated to finding them, but they tend to go in guns blazing. I just think there's a better way of doing it."

"Even UNIT?" Penny challenged.

"Especially UNIT." Sarah Jane replied. "Your UNIT ID was what got Mrs Wormwood after you."

"But how did you get started?" Maria asked.

"I met this man."

"The Doctor." Penny interjected.

"Yes. The Doctor."

There was a dreamy tone to her voice. She looked a bit distant as she told her story. Kelsey kept remarking how mad she was. Sarah Jane finished her story and smiled at Maria.

"Then I joined her in her fighting aliens." Penny added.

"And the Bubble Shock factory; it's run by aliens."

Kelsey continued to deny aliens existing to the amazement of everyone else in the room. The conversation was finished by a bleeping sound coming from the wall. Sarah Jane's smile grew. Penny looked round so she could look straight into her mother's eyes. The girl was cautiously hopeful. Sarah Jane raced over to the wall and slid two sections apart. It revealed a safe. Sarah Jane opened the safe and smiled into it. Maria looked over the woman's shoulder and saw space. A black hole, with light getting sucked into it, stared back at her. In front of the black hole was a little robot dog.

"Hey, K-9!" Penny called.

"Greetings mistresses." K-9 said.

"There was a scientific project in Switzerland. They created their own black hole. If it gets free, the Earth would be swallowed up, so K9's sealing it off." Sarah Jane explained.

"K-9, as in canine? That's so lame." Kelsey remarked.

"So was your screaming. At least K-9 is useful." Penny snapped back, defensively.

"He's a metal dog with his bum stuck in a black hole."

"He's saving the planet. What are you doing? Kelsey, anything other than getting in the way because that's clear."

"Can you ever come out K-9?" Maria asked.

Sarah Jane quickly introduced Maria. K-9 answered her with was could have been an equivalent of a smile from the metal dog. Penny shifted to let the boy get a look. He looked at the dog and reached forwards. Penny gently batted his hand down like a mother stopping a toddler from touching something dangerous.

"I regret I must transfer my co-ordinates." K-9 said.

Penny's face fell.

"Can't you stay for just a few more minutes?" Penny asked.

"If I do not return to the distortion then it will engulf the Earth, young mistress." K-9 replied.

Penny let her mother close the safe and when she turned away, she wiped a tear from her eye. When she had been younger, a baby and a toddler, K-9 had been there with her. He had not been in the best condition but he had loved her and they had become good friends.

"I love you, my daft little metal dog." Penny murmured as she slid down the panels that covered the now closed safe.

Mrs Wormwood looked at Davey with disgust in her stern eyes. "You know the penalty." Mrs Wormwood pointed out.

They were in her office and Davey had just reported back that the Archetype was still in Sarah Jane's care and none of the children had even been injured in the slightest.

"But she had weapons. Terrible weapons." Davey protested.

"A hunter that loses it's prey is unfit to serve the Bane mother." Mrs Wormwood pointed out.

She turned into her Bane form and attacked Davey.

Maria picked up the device that Sarah Jane had been given the night before.

"What's this, then?" Maria asked, looking at it.

It was breath-taking, perfect in every way. It looked a bit like a shield with buttons on one side.

"It's a communicator. The aliens you saw last night gave it to me. They said that if we ever needed help, we could call them." "Then lets call them." Maria said.

Sarah Jane explained that it was not help with alien creatures. It was help to get Penny a husband.

"They were star poets from Aracteen Five. They fell in love with Penny and wanted to marry her. Penny convinced them otherwise but they still wanted to offer their services."

"Let me see." the boy requested.

Sarah Jane nodded to tell Maria it was okay. She passed the device to the boy and he stared at it with wonder. The boy was playing with it. When it bleeped, Sarah Jane decided that it might not be safe to let the boy handle it. They didn't know if he was working for the aliens or not. The boy looked upset so Sarah Jane told him that it wasn't personal. She just didn't like people going through her things. She slipped the communicator into her pocket.

"That device on your wrist, it detects alien life?"

"That's right." Sarah Jane said.

"Then what's it detecting now?"

"How do you mean?" she asked.

She looked at the device as it bleeped from where it was on her wrist. She managed a weak smile and then read the display. Maria was sure there was something outside and Penny moved towards the door, making sure that if something was out there, the door was defended. Sarah Jane was moving across the attic. She was moving towards the sofa that Kelsey was sitting on. Kelsey looked confused but her confusion turned to anger when Sarah Jane snatched up the Bubble Shock Kelsey had been drinking. She scanned it and frowned.

"It's the drink. It's that ingredient, Bane."

Kelsey protested about how it was organic. She didn't understand what the others were getting at. Penny looked at Kelsey, suddenly looking very concerned.

"Is it safe to drink?" Penny asked.

"I don't know." Sarah Jane admitted.

She looked at the screen and began to read out information. If it was not safe then ninety-eight percent of the UK population was in danger.

"It's alive. Species identified, Bane. It's not just an ingredient, it's an alien! This is the secretion of... I need glasses. A Bane Mother. There is a piece of living Bane inside every bottle of Bubble Shock."

Penny and the boy both winced as Kelsey began to fall into hysteria. Maria was trying to calm Kelsey down but the two other children just seemed to find it as a waste of time.

"Don't worry. Ninety-eight percent of the population is in the same situation as you." Penny pointed out.

Maria thought it was a bit harsh but some of the stuff that Kelsey had said to Penny was just as harsh, maybe even more so. Penny got even more offended when Kelsey started accusing her mother of everything.

"It's not my fault." Sarah Jane said.

"Yeah? You've got all this stuff, all these gadgets, and you sit here talking, yapping on all day about planets and monsters. What good is that? Why don't you actually do something?"

"All right, Kelsey. Just you watch. Mr Smith?"

A man's voice responded. Maria, Kelsey and the boy began to look around for the source of the voice. Penny smiled at their confusion and moved to her mother's side. They were both looking at a bricked up chimney that was so plain it was hard to notice.

"I need you." Sarah Jane replied.

There was a fanfare and the chimney opened up. Everyone stared at the computer that appeared. A large screen was revealed.

"Mr Smith's a computer." Penny explained.

"An alien computer." Maria gasped.

"Mr Smith, I want a visual link to Mrs Wormwood at the Bubble Shock factory. Can you get co-ordinates?"

As the computer began to work, Sarah Jane began to talk to Maria. She explained her reasoning and her want to give the others fair warning. Their conversation was cut short when Mr Smith began to say a long string of numbers.

"Whoa." Penny said. "And I thought my phone number was long."

"Visual link connecting." Mr Smith said.

Mrs Wormwood looked at the screen with a forced smile. Sarah Jane was on the screen. They exchanged harsh pleasantries until they got down to business. Sarah Jane revealed she knew what Mrs Wormwood was a Bane. Mrs Wormwood took Sarah Jane's words as a threat of war.

"Mrs Wormwood, the universe is huge, and Earth is so small. You don't need to do this. I'm asking you, as one species to another, just leave this world."

"And if I don't?" Mrs Wormwood asked, tilting her head like she was confused.

"Then I'll have to do something." Sarah Jane said.

She didn't make threats. She offered warnings, not threats.

"Very well. In the language of your young ones, bring it on."

Mrs Wormwood looked up at the ceiling. She knew that things were going wrong. She didn't doubt their ability to win the fight but she knew their plan needed to change. She let the ceiling slide apart and looked up at the gap it left. A large orange eye with tentacles swirling around it stared down at her. Mrs Wormwood didn't flinch or anything of the sort.

"Mother, events have escalated. We must declare war on mankind. Open your mind, Mother. You must convert the humans containing Bane. They will convert the rest. Let this become Bane World!"

The creature let out a roar.

All around the UK drinkers of Bubble Shock stopped in their conversations. Orange glows began to circle the heads of every Bubble Shock lover. This included Alan Jackson. He had been watching the news. He lowered his drink as the orange glow worked it's way over his head.

The boy had been stared at Kelsey. He had not been sure what to make of her panicking. The others were ignoring Kelsey. Penny and Sarah Jane were watching the computer. Maria was watching the two of them.

"Kelsey Hooper. Look!" the boy called, pointing towards the girl.

She looked like she was in pain or at least that she was terrified.

"Oh no, it's beginning." Sarah Jane gasped. "Kelsey, fight it."

An orange swirl engulfed her head. As it disappeared, Kelsey straighten up and held out the drink.

"Drink it." Kelsey ordered.

Maria was horrified. Sarah Jane positioned herself between Kelsey and the other three teenagers. She made sure that the children could get out. Penny protectively took the Archetype's arm and led him out of the room. He had been one of the closest people to Kelsey and Penny wanted to make sure that he didn't get put under the Bane's control.

"Out! Quickly! Out!" Sarah Jane ordered.

Kelsey continued to chant the two word phrase even as Sarah Jane slammed the door to the attic and hurried down the stairs.

"We need to get to the factory." Sarah Jane said.

"I'm coming with you." Maria said.

"I call shotgun." Penny called, climbing into the car.

Maria briefly wondered how Penny could think about things so trivial at the time like that. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw her dad coming out of the house.

"Dad, stay indoors! There's all this stuff happening."

"Drink it." Alan said.

Maria was horrified. She began shouting at her dad. Silently, Sarah Jane took Maria by the arm and lead her into the car.

"This is bad, yes? I recognise bad."

"Yeah, Arcy. This is bad." Penny said.

Both her and Maria were scanning the figures that were stumbling, zombie-like, down the road. They were holding out bottles of Bubble Shock and telling the group to drink it. Sarah Jane swerved in and out of the traffic, attempting to not hit anyone. They were getting in the way. It was almost impossible not to crash. Sarah Jane knew she had to be quick but she had to avoid everyone. It was slowing them down. They knew they had to keep going.

Sarah Jane reached the gates. She had to keep her hands on the steering wheel but the gates were closed. She handed her sonic lipstick to Penny who was sitting in the seat next to her and got her to sonic the gates open.

"I'm going inside. Penny, you make sure that these two stay here."

"What?" Maria exclaimed.

The gates closed on the zombies.

"Mum, we're..."

Sarah Jane began to attempt to open the front doors. It didn't work.

"Deadlocked." Sarah Jane stated.

"What does that mean?"

"It means the sonic won't work. She can't get in."

Penny wasn't enjoying the fact but she seemed pretty fine with what was happening.

"There's got to be a way of getting in. There's got to be. There must be something. What do I do? Oh, come on, Doctor, help me. Come on. Think." Sarah Jane muttered.

She turned around and looked at the children.

"What's that?" the boy asked.

While Sarah Jane and Maria were trying to work on a way in, Penny took her time to educate the boy.

"It's a bus."

"It's a garishly orange bus." the boy replied to Penny.

"I know. It's a horrible colour." Penny agreed.

"What are you two talking about?" Maria asked.

"We're talking about the bus." "The bus!" Sarah Jane exclaimed. "That's how we'll get in."

"All the humans who don't submit will be reduced to liquid. Then Bane will drink them, and what's that noise?"

Mrs Wormwood had been reciting the plans with glee, when she heard the sound of a high pitch squeals that was meant to count as a jingle. It was then that the bus crashed through the wall. Mrs Wormwood was shocked but she understood what was happening when Sarah Jane climbed off the bus. She looked around and then smiled.

"Not too late for the party?" Sarah Jane said.

Penny leapt down after her and began to look around. Mrs Wormwood looked at the girl with a frown.

"Miss Smith and Miss Smith." Mrs Wormwood said with a nasty smile. "I did want to see you earlier, Penny."

"Well, now you have seen me." Penny replied, recognising Mrs Wormwood as an enemy. "I saw your mother earlier so I believe it is time that you met my mother."

Mrs Wormwood pointed up to the ceiling. Both Sarah Jane and Penny looked up.

"Penny, get back in the bus." Sarah Jane instructed, seeing the size of the creature.

"Arcy, your grandmother is hanging from the ceiling." Penny called back.

The creature's tentacles began to drop down. They reached out towards Penny and Sarah Jane.

"Leave them alone!" Maria called, leaping down from the bus.

Sarah Jane looked at her with horror in her eyes.

"Both of you, get back on the bus."

Instead of the two girls getting on, the Archetype joined them.

"Oh, you've brought us the Archetype."

"He is a living, thinking human being and you created him. What for?" Sarah Jane asked, protectively taking the boy's hand.

"He's an assembly of thousands of different humans. A montage, you might say. A collage. On every tour of the factory, we'd scan the guests, all ten thousand of them, and then we fed every strength and every weakness into him. The Archetype."

"I am everyone." the boy confirmed, as if adding to Mrs Wormwood's explanation.

Penny nodded and pulled the boy to her side. She smiled at him to make him feel braver. In a sense the boy was less than a day old. He had memories of only that day in his head. He managed a smile back. It wasn't a scared smile. It was a rather happy smile.

"But why?"

"Why make him?" Penny reiterated Maria's question.

"The two percent that wouldn't touch Bane. The Archetype could tell us exactly how to modify our product. But since we've advanced our plans, he is no longer needed."

There was a moment where Sarah Jane's heart actually stopped. She looked at the boy. She didn't know what Mrs Wormwood intended to do with him. She didn't want to know. The woman twisted her ring and the boy stumbled. He tried to latch onto Penny's arm but he wasn't strong enough. Penny caught him just quick enough to lower him to the ground. Sarah Jane leapt to his side and slipped off her jacket.

"He's only a boy. I'm begging you, let him go." Sarah Jane tried.

"Oh, that's so sweet. But he's dying, and soon you will join him, like all our enemies. Our slave control is activated around the world. The time of man is over. The time of Bane is come."

Sarah Jane and Penny knelt beside the boy. Sarah Jane pulled off her jacket and draped it over the boy's shoulders. Penny kept by his side while Sarah Jane stood up and moved away. Maria pulled out her phone in her anger. She called the first number on the list and pointed her phone at the large creature in the ceiling. It whirred and the Bane Mother screeched in pain. Mrs Wormwood smiled.

"The device is tiny, and now you've angered the Bane Mother. Do you really think that's wise?"

In revenge, the Bane Mother reached down and one of it's tentacles latched onto the nearest piece of rubble, a thick piece of piping. The piece of piping was swung at Maria and the others. Maria and Sarah Jane both ducked just in time. Penny and the boy didn't need to duck because they were both already kneeling. Sarah Jane pulled her daughter to her feet and they all prepared to say goodbye.

"Mother, descend and consume them!" Mrs Wormwood ordered.

"You forgot this." the boy whimpered, holding out the device that Sarah Jane had slipped into her jacket pocket.

"What is that?" Mrs Wormwood snapped.

"A signal device from another world." the boy said weakly. "It's like a mobile phone, only to call across the stars. It must be a million times more powerful."

"It's a good thing you don't know our frequency."

"Mister Smith said it out loud."

"But that was dozens of numbers!" Penny exclaimed.

"I remember them. You gave me the memory of ten thousand humans." the Archetype said, Penny helping him up slowly.

Mrs Wormwood realised that the boy would be able to do it. She frowned and told the guards to grab the boy.

"757562987032105 dash 5. Calling the Bane." the boy managed, his fingers flying over the buttons.

A piercing tone filled the air. The boy stumbled as he threw his hand into the air, the device with it. Penny supported him as Maria and Sarah Jane both covered their ears. The Bane Mother began to squirm in pain.

"The Bane Mother! You're killing her! Archetype, I order you to stop!" Mrs Wormwood barked.

"But you made him human. He's ours! We need to get him out of here." Sarah Jane said.

Penny and Maria each took one of the boy's arms and helped him from the room. Mrs Wormwood watched them with fury in her eyes. Around them equipment was beginning to explode.

Penny and Maria glanced back at the factory. They had just escaped in time to see the place explode. Sarah Jane watched as the zombie-like people at the gates began to look around confused. The boy began to take his own weight, a wide smile on his lips.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked the boy.

"Their control is gone; I'm free. That's good, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, that's good." Sarah Jane said.

"That's better than good." Penny agreed.

"I would be dead without you. We all would. You're amazing. The three of you. Amazing!"

"This is happiness, yes?"

The group began to jump up and down in a circle.

"We did it!" they all began to shout. "We saved the world!"

They all began to hug and then began to leap up and down once again, holding each other. They were all so proud.

"Dad!"

Maria rushed in and hugged her father.

"Whoa! What's brought this on?" Alan asked, hugging his daughter back.

"I thought I lost you."

"I had a bit of a turn, that's all. It's all over the news. Some chemicals escaped from that factory and gave everyone hallucinations." Alan said with a shrug.

He began to run his hands through Maria's hair because he wanted to make sure she felt safe. Sarah Jane and the two teenagers walked in. The boy was still dressed in his usual clothes.

"Hello." Alan said, eyeing the group.

"Hello." Sarah Jane said with a much more polite smile than she had ever offered Alan before. "We just wanted to check everything was alright."

"That's very neighbourly." Alan said with a smile.

"I'm sorry about before. It's just me and Penny had some things to sort out."

"It's okay. It's been an eventful day for all of us. Is it always like this?" "No, today has been pretty quiet." Penny with a smile, directed towards Maria, who smiled back knowingly.

"And who's this?" Alan asked, pointing towards the boy.

"This is what we're sorting out. It's Sarah Jane's new son." Penny said quickly.

Shock flared up in Sarah Jane's eyes. She looked and her daughter and then nodded.

"I decided to adopt him."

"Hello." the boy said. "Hi, I'm Alan Jackson and you are..."

"I don't have a name."

Sarah Jane, Penny and Maria each gave each other worried expressions. They had not thought about names for the boy.

"That's a rubbish joke." Penny sniggered quickly.

"Yes. He's called..." Sarah Jane trailed off.

She couldn't think of a name. She was saved by Chrissie walking in.

"Look at you, leaving your front door open after everything that's happened. Did you hear about the chemicals? Oh, it was a nightmare. I had Ivan chasing me round the bedroom saying drink it. I told him to get off, but he wasn't having it. Haven't you unpacked yet? Alan, I did say that the longer things stay in boxes, the less it feels like a home. And you are?"

"I'm Sarah Jane Smith. I'm from over the road."

"This is my mother." Maria admitted and looked at her mother.

"What's he wearing?" Chrissie asked.

"These are the clothes I was born in." the boy said as if it was normal.

"Right. Well, er, thank you very much, but if you don't mind, I've had a bit of a trauma. Family time. Thanks for calling in." Chrissie said, turning away from Sarah Jane and her children.

"Okay, we'll be off." Sarah Jane said, offering Maria an awkward smile and wave.

"This woman is rude." the boy stated.

"Yes. Definitely going. Come on, we'll go home and you can get settled in." Penny said hurriedly.

"You don't have to." Maria tried.

Her mother began to talk about the horrors of befriending the neighbours. Alan sighed awkwardly and watched the Smiths leave. They were happy to escape.

It was that evening and Sarah Jane had invited Maria round so she could escape from her father's attempts at unpacking. Penny carried out a tray with a jug of lemonade and four glasses. She placed it on the garden table and took a seat in one of the wooden chairs. The three of them lifted their glasses and tapped them against each other.  
"Cheers." they all smiled.

"And it's normal pop." Maria said in a victorious tone.

"Hooray for normal pop." Penny said, taking a sip.

"How's your friend? Kelsey?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Back-tracking like mad. She's saying it's all hallucinations. She also thinks that we are all insane."

"Then insanity must be bliss." Penny joked.

Then the boy walked in. He looked a little nervous. He was wearing a pair of clothes that Penny had managed to borrow from a neighbour. Sarah Jane patted the seat on the wooden chair next to her and the boy took it.

"This is good?" the boy asked.

"Yeah."

"We'll take you shopping tomorrow." Sarah Jane said, "Get you all the clothes you need."

"How are you gonna adopt him, then? I mean, you need forms and things. Who are you gonna say his real mum is, the Bane Mother?"

"Mr Smith's been busy." Sarah Jane said, producing a set of forms.

She showed them to the boy and he seemed impressed. They were missing only one thing.

"All you need is a name." Sarah Jane pointed out.

"Penny calls me Arcy." the boy stated.

"It's short for Archetype." Penny explained.

"I don't want my name to link me to them." the boy said.

"Yeah, I see your point." Penny nodded.

"You can chose your own." Sarah Jane said.

"I like Maria. It's a nice name."

Maria laughed. Both Penny and Sarah Jane gave the boy compassionate smiles.

"Maybe not." Maria giggled. "How about Jack? Josh? Nathan?"

"Harry? Patrick? Liam?" Penny asked, looking at her brother.

"Jonathan?" Sarah Jane said.

She watched Penny wince and then frowned. She shook her head as if to show the boy that it wasn't an option any more.

"Alastair? Luke?" "I like Luke." the boy said, stopping the list.

"That's the name I was going to chose if I ever had a boy. I had a girl instead."

"Luke Smith." Maria said. "It has a lovely ring to it. Luke and Penny Smith."

"Luke and Penelope Smith actually." Sarah Jane said.

Penny frowned and looked at her mother.

"I thought I said we were going to get my named changed."

"But Penelope is such a nice name." Sarah Jane said.

"So is there a Mr Smith on the cards? A man, not a computer." Maria asked.

"There was only one man for me. And after him, after he passed away, nothing compared. When I was your age I used to think, oh, when I'm grown up, I'll know what I want. I'll be sorted. But you never really know what you want, you never feel grown up, not really. I didn't feel ready even when I had Penny. You never really sort it all out. I just gave in to the chaos of being a single mum."

"It wasn't that chaotic." Penny answered. "Between us two, the robotic dog and the alien computer, we made quite a good life for us. All that was missing as a boy."

Penny looked at her new brother and gave him a weak smile. Then the group began to look up at the starry sky. There was a light dancing across the sky.

"That's a plane."

"A flying machine?"

"Yeah." Sarah Jane confirmed and they stared up at the night sky until they were too cold to continue.


	2. Aftershock

An alien was emptying to eat the children who stayed out at night. It was yet to find one that couldn't escape him but it and the people attempting to stop it knew it was only a matter of time. That was why Penny Smith was sitting in the middle of an empty playground in the middle of the night.

She had been the best choice for the job but then it had been out of her mother who unfortunately didn't look like a child, the neighbour's daughter who wasn't allowed out at night and Penny's adopted brother who, the last time he had been allowed out of the house, had got himself banned from a supermarket for telling the truth about the manager's appearance. (Penny had decided then that she should teach her brother to lie but that is a whole different story!) This brother was also only a week old and was happily chatting in the earpiece Sarah Jane had given her daughter so if she was attacked, she would be able to call help.

"And Maria said it tasted interesting." Luke said, finishing his tale.

"Well, it did." Penny agreed, remembering Luke's horrid attempt to use the kettle.

She wasn't sure how he had managed it but she was pretty sure he had created a new life form when making them all drinks earlier that day.

"Mum said you might be cold, would you like me to bring you a jacket?"

"No thanks, I've got a jacket." Penny replied.

Her jacket wasn't very thick but it would do. She would rather come home with a cold than have her week old brother wondering round the streets in the middle of the night. Luke's birth certificate said that the day he had been activated was his birthday which made Luke two months older than her officially but he wasn't. He was her little brother. He was sweet and, for all his intelligence, very naive. He spoke his mind not because he was angry but because he didn't know telling people that they were rude or ugly or wrong wasn't what people did. He also called people beautiful. He had told Penny that both Maria and her were beautiful and blushed when he talked about Maria.

Penny's happy thoughts were cut short by the sound of movement behind her. Her heart began to race and she looked around in the darkness.

"Luke, get mum, someone's here." Penny whispered into her earpiece.

"Okay, I'll get her." Luke said.

To Penny's ears, his voice was too loud. She was sure whoever was out there must have heard it. All she could see was darkness and the faint silhouettes of badly maintained play equipment. She didn't call out. If she called out then the thing would know where she was. She turned back; she had to pretend that she was a normal child who wasn't expecting an alien to attack them at any moment. Penny wasn't scared. She had done worse things than this without being scared and yet she jumped when a hand was pressed down on her shoulder. UNIT training and self-defence classes took over. The girl drove her elbow back, pushing the hand up with her other hand. She watched as the person fell to the floor and frowned. It was a boy. He pulled out a torch and shone it straight at Penny. She winced and blinked rapidly as it crossed her eyes.

"I am so sorry." Penny began, helping the boy up.

She had winded him and knocked him to the ground. The least she could do was help him up and make sure he was okay. In her ear Mr Smith was telling her not to worry and to talk through what the creature looked like. She wanted to reply but the boy would think she was mad if she talked to him over her hidden earpiece while she was dealing with the boy.

"No harm done." the boy said breathlessly.

Penny helped him to find a seat on the bench she had been sitting on and produced her phone. IN the darkness the screen acted like a torch but it was a bit more mellow, less blinding than the boy's torch.

"You're from my school." Penny said, searching for the boy's name. "Clive? Kevin? Callum?"

"Clyde." the boy replied. "Clyde Langer."

"Oh, yeah. Penny Smith; sorry about winding you."

"Well, it's the middle of the night, I'm sure I can let you off." Clyde said. "But I'm going to wind you when I get the chance."

"So why are you out here?" Penny laughed.

There was something about the way Clyde acted that just made Penny laugh. He was in her year and well known as the class clown. Penny wasn't sure if he was a nice kid but she didn't want him to be caught in the crossfire of a fight between her group of friends and an alien.

"My dad called me up again. He wanted to talk, explain why he walked out on me and mum. I just wanted some space to think it over." He paused and let his words hang in the air. "So what's your dad like?"

"My dad died before I was born." Penny admitted, sadly. "He was..."

Penny trailed off. The nature of her dad's death was classified. The official story was that he had been killed in a plane crash but the truth was he had been shot dead by Sontaran plane high-jackers defending it.

"It was a plane crash." Penny finally said.

Clyde nodded slowly, taking it in.

"That makes my troubles seem kinda small."

"No. I never knew him. I miss him and I've heard about him but... Me and my mum got it sorted."

"Yeah. I live with my mum too." Clyde agreed. "So why are you out here so late?"

_I'm trying to stop an alien from eating the children of London._ Penny actually considered answering.

She knew she shouldn't but it was nice to toy with the idea of gaining such a surprised reaction.

"My mum's just adopted me a new brother but he's... He's sweet but..." "Mum, she's talking about me." Penny heard Luke say over the radio.

Penny had forgotten they could listen in. She wasn't sure whether or not to wince or be happy.

"So, Clyde, we're starting school again next week, you ready for it?"

"Nope. I haven't read-y all the books I needed to or anything."

Clyde offered Penny a cheeky smile, telling her that he was proud of her joke.

"That was awful." Penny remarked.

Suddenly she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It was a large creature, massive. She wasn't sure what to make of it. She had only had descriptions from other children who had been attacked and Mr Smith's best image representations. There was no actual way to tell what she was up against.

"Well, I'm going to go..." Penny said.

She needed to get Clyde to go. He looked tempted to stay but if he did then he would be attacked by the creature. Penny had no doubt that Clyde was street-smart but she wasn't sure if he could take the creature.

"You should go home too." Penny said. "Tell your mother about the phone call. She'll be able to listen. That whole problem shared is a problem halved thing."

Penny could hear the rush in her voice. It wasn't panic. She didn't do panic but it was pleading. She was pleading Clyde to go. Just because no children had been eaten didn't mean that it wouldn't change that night. Clyde nodded to her.

"I could walk you home if you want. You live near me, don't you?"

"Bannerman road but no. I'm going to call my mum and get her to pick me up." Penny lied.

She slipped her phone out of her pocket once again and waved it at Clyde.

"Okay, don't wind her when she gets here." Clyde said and disappeared into the darkness.

Penny looked around, waiting for the creature to make it's decision, her or Clyde. The creature chose. It leapt towards her at such speed Penny barely had time to react. People had survived these acts simply through luck and Penny had to hope her luck held out.

"Mum, it's here. It's attacking." Penny said into the earpiece.

"Okay, Penny, just stay out of it's reach." her mother instructed.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"We're about to find out." Sarah Jane said.

Penny used her phone to light up the creature's face and swallowed hard. She gasped and it gave the creature chance to pounce, knocked the girl to the floor.

"If it isn't the Archetype stealer." the Bane standing over Penny hissed.

Sarah Jane was nervous about her daughter's safety as she got into her car. Penny was at the closest park to the house but that did not mean Sarah Jane would get there in time. As Luke climbed into the car, Sarah Jane was horrified. She didn't want both her children to be in danger. At least she knew that Penny was able to defend herself to a point. The boy was... To say he was untested was an understatement. Yes he had helped them take down the Bane but they had been organised and Luke understood organised. This wasn't organised or planned, it was a creature in a park attacking the boy's sister.

"Will Penny be hurt?" the boy asked, worried about Penny.

They had known each other a week but had become very protective of each other. Penny had made it her little project to get Luke to be as normal as possible without changing him. Maria helped out a lot because Penny's life was not that normal either. Penny however was still Luke's sister. She treated him a bit like a toddler, making sure he didn't touch hot things or muck around with wires, but she was very loving. It was clear Luke loved her back. She had saved his life in a fight with the Bane, kicking one in their front tentacles. Luke loved her for that and for accepting him into her home so quickly Sarah Jane briefly wondered about how Luke felt about her.

"Of course Penny will be fine." Sarah Jane said. "She's done things like this before."

"Then why are we going to save her?" Luke asked.

"Because we don't know what she's up against and we don't want it to get away."

Penny had been knocked out. The Bane had dragged her along the floor, hitting her head against it as they went. Hitting her head on a bit of play equipment had knocked her out. Penny wasn't sure what to do as she sat up and rubbed her head. Bane. She had thought they had all been killed during the explosion. Penny glanced around, trying to take everything in. The sudden movement made her feel dizzy so she stopped and scanned the area slowly. She was in some sort of warehouse, surrounded by crates. Penny could made a good guess at what was in the crates and it worried her. The Bane couldn't be about to try their plan again, could they? There was the sound of something hitting the floor and Penny tried to stand up to run. It was then at Penny noticed a glowing band around her wrist. She looked at it with horror.

"Congratulations, Miss Smith. You put up a lot more fight than I thought you would." a human voice said.

Penny glanced around. She was dealing with Bane, Bane in human form. She had no clear idea what they wanted her for but revenge seemed the most likely option.

"I knew that if I kept attacking children, I would get one of your group in the end."

"The Archetype is starting a new life, a better one than your slavery."

"I don't care about the boy. I don't care about whether he lives or dies."

"Then what do you want? Revenge?"

"The Archetype killed my mother, my family. I merely want to repay the favour."

Then the owner of the voice turned the corner. It was the receptionist from the factory, Penny recognised her from the visual link they had had with Mrs Wormwood. The receptionist had been in the background.

"Many people have tried to kill me and Mum. No one had managed it yet." Penny pointed out.

"There's a first time for everything." the receptionist sneered.

"What's to stop me from running? I'm probably faster and stronger than you."

"You might be but my Bane form combined with that band around your wrist will easily overpower you." Penny looked at the band. It looked like it was mostly made of metal but had a series of controls on it.

"It will send an electronic current through you the moment you get over ten metres away from me. It won't kill you but the pain is excruciating."

The receptionist smiled. Penny looked at the band on her wrist once again and then at her captor. She couldn't escape unless she could get the metal strip off but she was sure that if she did that then she would be punished, possibly killed. All Penny could do was hope that Mr Smith could understand what was going on.

Sarah Jane looked at the empty play park. Her chest had tightened the moment she had realised that Penny was not there. They had told the girl to stay in the park no matter what happened and Penny, despite all her eagerness, would not disobey Sarah Jane when the lives of others were on the line.

"Luke, stay close." Sarah Jane said.

She refused to lose another child. She hoped Penny would be safe but a motherly instinct told her that her daughter was in terrible danger. Sarah Jane pulled out her phone and considered calling Penny. She decided against it and then called Mr Smith.

"Any news?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Penny's earpiece is still in tact and transmitting. I am still getting her half of a conversation." the computer announced triumphantly.

"Put it through." Sarah Jane ordered.

Her daughter's voice came over the phone. Her daughter was no talking to her, she was in the middle of a conversation. When Penny didn't speak, Sarah Jane could hear a muffled reply that she couldn't understand.

"So how many Bane survived the explosion?" Penny asked and a pause followed. "Only you. Wow, that must suck for you." There was another pause. "And you thought that, instead of running back to the Bane home world with your tentacles between your legs, you would try and kill me and mum." "Bane?" Sarah Jane gasped.

She looked up at Luke who didn't hide his fear and surprise at the mention of his old controllers. He had only been free from their power for a week. He enjoyed life. He was not willing to go back under their control. Sarah Jane listened more to the conversation, hearing Penny repeat nearly everything her kidnapper said. She realised that her daughter, being as talented and level-headed as she was, was telling her what was happening. She was giving them all the information they needed.

"Can Mr Smith track the signal?" Luke asked.

"What?" Sarah Jane exclaimed, getting dragged from listening to the conversation.

She realised she had said that down the phone and hoped that Mr Smith had not transmitted it to Penny. The girl didn't need any detractions.

"Penny's earpiece. If it's still transmitting then Mr Smith might be able to track it." Luke pointed out.

"Yes, Luke, I can track the earpiece's signal." the computer confirmed.

Luke smiled and told him to track it. Sarah Jane was proud of both her children. She realised with amazement that she thought of Luke as her child.

"Cross-referencing the signal." Mr Smith announced in his proud tone. "Penny is in an old Bubble Shock warehouse. It now contains the pop that UNIT took off the stores. Penny's UNIT status could have gained her entry but it seems that the files are corrupt and there are no UNIT personnel in the area."

"Okay, send us the address. That must be where the Bane have her." Sarah Jane said.

Penny looked at the receptionist. She had been told to be quiet and was seriously considering resisting. That was when her phone vibrated. Penny's phone was special. After her father had died, UNIT had taken some precautions about Penny. Her phone worked on a slightly different frequency to most phones, meaning a lack of phone bill and that it had no effect on the Bane. Penny slipped her phone out as the receptionist looked at her.

"I need to..."

Penny forced herself to blush. She pretended her need to relieve herself so she would be left alone. The receptionist looked at Penny and then nodded to a pile of crates.

"Go behind there unless you want to be electrocuted." the receptionist threatened.

"Okay." Penny said.

She moved behind the crates and saw that it was Luke calling her. One of the first things they had brought him was a phone. Penny put the phone to her other ear, the one that didn't have the earpiece in.

"Bro, you have the memory of ten thousand humans, don't you remember the earpiece?" Penny asked.

"Sarah Jane asked me to call you so we could talk to your kidnapper. Why do you still have you phone?"

"Evidently my alien kidnapper is not very good at running Earth kidnappings." Penny joked.

Luke managed a small laugh. The receptionist came round the corner and saw Penny on her phone.

"Hey." Penny said to the receptionist. "My brother wants a word with you."

Setting her phone on it's highest volume, Penny tossed her phone to the woman with a smile. The woman caught it and looked at Penny with a scowl.

"Archetype?" she barked.

"My name is Luke now." Luke said simply.

Penny could hear anything that was being said. She enjoyed talking to her brother. It was just the way he said things so truthfully, so innocently. Penny knew she had to enjoy it while it lasted.

"I have your sister."

"We noticed." Sarah Jane snapped. "We're heading towards the warehouse you are in. Unless you release my daughter this instant I will make sure UNIT know where to find you." "Is that a threat?" the receptionist asked.

"For once, yes." Sarah Jane growled.

Penny gasped. She knew her mother. She knew her mother never made threats. Yet she had just threatened a Bane.

_She must really care about me and Luke. What am I thinking? Of course she cares about me and Luke. She really hates the Bane too. This is complete logical and yet it's mum. She doesn't make threats!_

"Okay, I will send your daughter outside." the receptionist said and hung up the phone.

She turned to Penny and then pulled Penny's wrist up. She changed the controls on the band.

"You'll have to walk more than ten meters to get to your dear old mother and I've just made the electricity settings even higher. You'll die." the receptionist explained.

Sarah Jane smiled as she saw Penny. The girl was standing outside the warehouse, alone. The woman got out of the car and nodded towards her daughter. Luke looked at his sister.

"Penny, come here." Sarah Jane called.

"Why is she waiting there?" Luke asked.

"Luke, could you come over here please?" Penny called. "I need your help with something."

Luke looked at Sarah Jane and got the nod he needed. He slowly walked over to Penny.

"You look very pretty when you're the only thing that a person can actually see." Luke said, referring to the fact that Penny was standing right under a street light while the rest of the street was pitch black.

"You need to stop doing that." Penny said.

"Doing what?"

"Telling me I'm beautiful or pretty or... You're my brother, not my boyfriend."

"But I thought we were friends!" Luke yelped, seemingly hurt by the idea that him and Penny weren't friends.

"Okay, we'll deal with this when we get home. I need your help to escape from this." Penny sighed, showing Luke the band.

"That's pretty."

"It's also going to give me a pretty big electric shock if I don't get it off before my captor decides to wonder off."

"What?"

Luke was giving Penny his confused face again. Penny was beginning to wonder if he just naturally looked confused.

"Just get it off!" Penny called.

Suddenly Luke began to work. He began to twist Penny's wrist around, surveying the band around it. He then pulled out a pencil from his pocket.

"Are you going to pick it?"

"What?"

"The lock are you going to pick it?"

"It doesn't have a lock." Luke reported. "Give me the earpiece and snap the pencil so the lead is showing."

Penny did as she was instructed. Luke threw the earpiece to the floor and smashed it with the heel of his shoe.

"What are you doing?" Penny asked, handing Luke back to two sides of the pencil.

Luke carefully placed one bit on the ground so he had the section where the graphite was exposed at both ends. He drove one end, the point, into the control panel, smashing it with a spark. He then pulled out a series of wires from the earpiece and linked them to the graphite.

"I kinda need an answer." Penny said.

She could fell the electricity beginning to build. It felt like several small static shocks were dancing around her wrist.

"It needs a lot less energy to send a powerful signal with this then it does to severely electrocute a human." Luke pointed out, pointing to the earpiece. "The energy is building so the Bane will be in too much pain to move long before she reaches ten metres."

"And you're sure this will work?" Penny asked.

"No." the boy replied simply.

"Good enough." Penny shrugged.

Suddenly there was a scream of pain. Luke couldn't look at Penny, terrified he had failed. He looked back at Sarah Jane, trying to work out if she was horrified. She was looking around.

"Okay, so I'm not going to die. Get mum to grab my kidnapper."

The receptionist had removed the band from Penny's wrist because Luke had quiet truthfully pointed out that killing Penny would also mean the woman's death as well. Penny looked at her wrist. The band had left a couple of bruises but other than that she was fine.

"At least the children of London won't get feasted upon by a Bane." Penny said.

"She almost killed you." Luke remarked. "She almost killed you because you're my sister."

"Luke, you know full well it isn't like that."

"I'm just going to put you in danger." the boy whimpered.

Sarah Jane was calling Torchwood about dealing with the receptionist. Despite how much she hated the woman, she was not about to hand her over to UNIT and a deathly penalty.

"You saved me. You saved the world the day you were activated. You saved my life back there because you're brilliant."

"But there is so much I don't understand."

Penny looked at her brother. They were in the lounge, waiting for their mother to finish her phone call. When she was finished they would go over what happened and then go off to bed. Sarah Jane wanted to talk about it in the morning but Penny had told her that she would rather talk about it that night.

"There is so much I don't understand either. I have no idea how you saved me. No, please don't explain... You're my brother, Luke, I understand that. You understand that. I would die for you. I would have taken that electric shock a thousand times to save you."

"Don't get electrocuted." Luke said simply. "I need you to teach me stuff." "Like how to compliment your sibling without making it seem like your dating?"

"Why would I be dating you?" Luke asked.

"That's better." Penny laughed.

"It would be useless unless you were a time travel and you couldn't find an accurate calendar."

"Ah... Yes, that can wait for the morning." Penny decided.

**Lovely, short and fluffy. Please review.**

**** By the way ****

**This story idea came from my little sister who suggested Clyde should be in a story and there should still be Bane about. I cheated a bit by not having Clyde meet the Bane but...**


	3. Revenge of the Slitheen part 1

Luke itched in his new school uniform as he got out of the car. Penny had spent the week explaining the ins and outs of school to him but it wasn't working. He just couldn't get his head round some of the concepts like why years didn't tend to mix or why you didn't enjoy it. The idea of school seemed fun but Luke had been told by his sister that most kids didn't like it.

"Now, you two take care, okay?"

"Goodbye, mum." Penny said, closing the car door.

Luke copied her. He gasped at his own slip of the tongue and then looked at Sarah Jane, a bit ashamed.

"Oh, Luke, it's okay. Just keep it as Sarah Jane for now." Sarah Jane said.

Maria walked over with a smile.

"Hi, Maria." Penny called.

"Hiya!" Maria waved.

Luke moved towards Sarah Jane and let her kiss his cheek. A group of children laughed but they stopped when Penny and Maria glared at them. Sarah Jane got into the car and waved at the group. Then she drove off. Luke looked at Maria and Penny.

"Why were they laughing?" he asked.

"You know I told you that there were rules that no one has time to right down but you simply shouldn't do them if you don't want to get laughed at?" Penny began. "If people begin to laugh then you have possibly broken one of those rules."

"You let Sarah Jane kiss you in public." Maria said.

"But she's my mum."

"She's my mum too. Do you see any kiss marks on my cheeks?" Penny asked. "By the way, she still wants you to call her mum."

"She said she didn't." Luke said.

Penny face-palmed. Maria knew she had had to put up with Luke's questions all week. For Penny social stuff came so easily. Maria guessed it was hard for her to explain what she did, why she did it and just the day to day actions of people.

"It's not what she said."

"She was lying!" Luke exclaimed.

"You told him about lying."

"I told him about lying. The concept of doing so still alludes him." Penny said, letting her brother move just out of ear shot.

Maria shook her head with a smile. When the two girl's rejoined Luke, they were staring at a large structure. It was a massive flashy building made out of glass and metal.

"That's new." Penny remarked. "Unless I've got really bad at noticing things."

"It's new." Luke agreed. "I was reading the article in the newspaper to you this morning."

"When was that?" Penny asked. "Wait, was that what you were doing when I was listening to my music player?"

Luke looked a bit shocked. He looked at Maria as if he was telling her that he would never understand his sister.

"It's a brand new building." Maria remarked. "Wonder what's inside?"

In a control room full of wires and violently sparking equipment, a monitor caught site of Maria, Luke and Penny walking across the car park.

"Not them. Scan along. Where is he?" a male voice said.

"There him!" another male voice cheered.

The monitor settled on a teacher moving across the car park.

"He's not that big. How will I fit?" the first voice asked.

"He'll do." the second man snapped. "Get yourself ready. I'll go fetch."

Mr Jeffrey looked at the headteacher. He wanted to impress Mr Blakeman.

"What can I do for you?"

"Stand right here, Tim." Mr Blakeman said.

He positioned the man in front of a white panel.

"Any particular reason?"

"Very particular." the teacher said.

Mr Blakeman passed wind and smiled. Mr Jeffrey was very polite about it. Mr Blakeman took Mr Jeffrey's glasses just as the wall behind the teach opened. An alien claw tapped on the man's shoulder. Mr Jeffrey turned and screamed.

"I'm feeling anxious." Luke said.

"So am I." Maria replied.

"But you've been to school before."

They were sitting in the assembly hall. A group of boys had offered to let Penny sit next to them but Penny and opted to sit next to her brother and friend.

"There's nothing to freak out about." Penny assured them.

A boy walked over and asked Penny and her friends to move up. Penny looked up at the boy and smiled.

"Oh, hi, Clyde."

"Hi, Penny." Clyde replied. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

Penny shook her head and let Clyde sit next to her.

"Are these two new?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah." Penny replied.

"Then I guess I'll hang round with you until you work out where you belong." Clyde said.

"How do you do? I'm Luke Smith." Luke said, reaching round to give Clyde a hand to shake.

"Okay, I'm sure the nerds are sitting at the front somewhere." Clyde blurted out before he even knew what he was doing.

"The girl's Maria." Penny said, deciding to stop Clyde before he did something that would upset Luke. "And the boy is my brother who I was telling you about when we met. Luke, a simple hi would do just as well."

Clyde grimaced and looked at Penny.

"I'm sorry."

They were shushed when their head teacher waddled out onto the stage. He looked over all the pupils of the school.

"Morning, Mr Blakeman!" Penny and Clyde chorused with the rest of the school.

Maria and Luke shrugged. Suddenly the teacher farted. The whole school apart from Luke laughed to various degrees.

"What's funny?" Mr Blakeman snapped. "Right. Assembly, yah di yah. Welcome back everybody. It's a new year. Hope you all do well. Don't run in the courtyard. Don't even think of wearing make-up, and study hard, because I guarantee none of you are going to be pop stars."

"What's his problem?" Clyde asked, a bit disgruntled.

"His obviously has heard the school choir." Penny laughed.

He then announced that he was going to take the classes round the new block one by one.

"Starting with Form 10B."

When it came to the turn of the group's class, Penny was stopped by a group of boys. Maria was trying to help Penny escape.

"I've signed us up for this." Luke said, trying to befriend Clyde.

He handed Clyde a leaflet for a lunch time science club. The other boy pulled a disgusted face at the sight of the leaflet.

"Now I'm backing away."

There was another fart from the teacher and the group all laughed.

"Why is farting funny?" Luke asked.

"It just is." Clyde shrugged.

"But it's a normal process of the human bowel."

"Are you for real?" Clyde asked.

"Thank you for saving me?" Penny moaned coming over.

She was looking at Luke with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Luke replied.

"Those boys back there were trying to convince Penny to meet up with them after school." Maria said.

"Why didn't you help?"

"I didn't know." Luke moaned.

"Oh, dude, someone was hitting on your sister." Clyde laughed.

"No one hit Penny." Luke said.

Clyde stared at Luke. Penny knew she had to change the subject before Clyde got suspicious.

"What's that smell?" she asked, sniffing the air.

"Farts?" Luke suggested.

"No, this smells metallic." Penny said.

Clyde sniffed the air and so did Maria.

"It smells like batteries." Clyde said.

Maria was sitting by herself at lunch time. Luke was in the library and Penny had been called up by Sarah Jane to check how Luke was getting on. Penny had gone off to take the call. Maria was playing with her food thoughtfully when Clyde walked over. He put his tray down and sat next to her.

"Can I sit here?"

"Only if I'm not going to shame you." Maria teased.

"Where's Penny or that boy? Um... Luke?"

Maria explained where the two Smiths were with a happy smile.

"So how did you and Penny meet?" Maria asked.

"Well Penny and me have gone to the same school since we were kids and everyone knows about her. Me and her only really talked about a week ago. My parents are divorced. I live with my mum and Penny kinda understood what I was going through."

"I live with my dad." Maria said. "My parents got divorced recently."

"How you holding up?" Clyde asked.

"Well it's better than having them argue all the time." Maria shrugged.

Clyde happened to look down at his plate as he nodded to agree. He suddenly felt sick. He looked at the large bit of mould that covered his food.

"What's wrong with that? It's mouldy. What kind of slop are they serving here? Is it leftovers from last term or something? Sir? Sir?"

Mr Blakeman wondered over and looked at Clyde who had called him. Clyde pointed at his food, telling the teacher how horrifying it was.

"How am I meant to eat that?"

"Just pick the bad bits off." Mr Blakeman said and wondered off.

Clyde picked up a pea from his plate. It was the only bit off food that seemed safe to eat. Maria looked down at her food and gasped. Hers was also rotten.

"That's disgusting!" Maria exclaimed.

Clyde frowned.

"What's wrong with this place? It stinks, the food's rotten. Something weird's going on here."

Penny had just hung up on Sarah Jane when a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned and saw Carl. Carl was an unpopular, nerdy child who was socially awkward. Penny didn't have much to do with most of the people at school but she knew about how strange Carl was.

"Hello, Carl right?" Penny said. "Yes. You're Penny Smith."

"That's me." Penny said awkwardly.

"You smell nice." Carl remarked.

Penny groaned internally. Carl sounded a bit like Luke, all confused but at the same time curious. Penny had thought only Luke would say something so strange as that when he didn't really know the person. She briefly wondered if she could convince Luke and Carl to hang out. "Carl, I really have to go." Penny lied. "I promised Luke I would meet up with him."

She brushed past Carl. The boy turned after Penny and let a smile cross his lips as he sniffed the air after her.

Mr Blakeman watched as all the children began to go home from the school. Mr Jeffrey walked to the other teacher and frowned.

"This skin, it's killing me round the legs."

Mr Blakeman announced it was time for a test run, ignoring Mr Jeffrey's moans.

"What about the caretaker?"

"I've taken care of the caretaker." Mr Blakeman replied with a laugh.

The two hurried away from the disappearing pupils.

Alan Jackson was biking back from work when he saw Sarah Jane's care pulling into her driveway. He was surprised to see Maria getting out along with the Smith children. He began to tease Maria the moment he saw her.

"Shut up, dad." Maria laughed.

"How was the big first day?" he asked.

"Okay, a bit weird through." Maria replied.

"The headmaster kept farting." Penny said. "Noisy, smelly ones as well."

She held her nose and began to bat her hand about in front of her face. Alan and Sarah Jane both laughed. Luke just looked at Penny, wondering what she was doing.

"The place stinks like batteries, all the food is off and all these boys kept trying to hit Penny."

"Hit on me!" Penny corrected when she saw the surprise in her mother's eyes.

She looked at Luke and mouthed at him that she would explain later.

"I'll make you two a proper tea. Go and get changed." Sarah Jane said.

"Thanks mum."

"Thanks Sarah Jane."

"See ya later, Maria." Penny called back.

Alan watched as the two Smith children disappeared into their large house.

"I want a proper tea too!" Maria moaned.

"Make it yourself. You might have a chauffeur, but I'm not your cook." Alan joked.

"Whatever."

"No, forget it, it's all right. We'll phone out for a curry. Can't have you straining yourself after your long voyage home, can we?"

Maria laughed at her father.

"You think you're so funny!" she exclaimed and began to disappear down across the road.

Sarah Jane watched her go and then Maria turned back to wave. Sarah Jane waved at her.

"The school can't be that bad. Penny's been going there for years and she's never moaned about it. They've just built this as well. Someone donated the money and this technology block was put up over the holidays. It looks incredible."

Sarah Jane fished a newspaper out of her car and showed the page to Alan. He looked at the block and frowned.

"I did an IT job in a school, in a new block that looks just like it."

"Was it built by Coldfire construction?" Sarah Jane asked, seeing the logo of the company that built it pictured in the corner.

She was told the address by Alan and he wasn't aware he had given much away. He then turned away and said he had to go and make sure that Maria didn't order the entire menu.

Mr Blakeman was in the special room. He was going over all sorts of wires and machinery, a large smile on his face. He was enjoying every moment.

"Systems online." he announced. "Now, synchronise the mega-wattage."

Mr Jeffrey glanced over the controls, looking a bit lost.

"Synchronising mega-watty." he said, scanning the dials and buttons.

"That one." Mr Blakeman said, sounding annoyed.

Mr Jeffrey still looked lost so Mr Blakeman threw the red lever himself. A light flashed around the room.

Luke and Sarah Jane were in the attack.

"I kept making social mistakes today." Luke said slowly.

"I think I made one too. Penny knows the way to school and she could have made sure you got there safely. I shouldn't have driven you to school or kissed you in front of your friends. I've never kissed Penny in front of hers." Sarah Jane said, trying to make Luke feel better.

"I only really know Penny and Maria. Lots of boys try to talk to Penny when we're trying to talk and she doesn't sit near me. Maria isn't in most of my classes. There's this boy Penny knows who spends time with us. He's called Clyde and he thinks I'm uncool."

The way Luke said the word 'cool' made it sound like he was banned from even saying it. He looked at Sarah Jane like he was about to cry.

"Clyde's not the only kid in school." Sarah Jane reminded his friend.

"He seems to be Penny's friend." Luke managed. "What if I make more mistakes?"

"Penny and me and Maria will always be there for you." Sarah Jane said. "It's not like any of us are not going through a transition phase."

"But do I have to go to school?"

"I could take you out, teach you here. Both you and Penny could be taught here. I considered it. But you, Luke Smith, you're going to live a normal life. As normal a life as I can give you. Penny and you have to just keep trying to live normally."

Sarah Jane clasped her son's arms, telling him that everything was okay. She offered him a smile and then nodded.

"Remember, you saved the world the day you were born. You saved your sister's life a week ago. Not many people can say that."

"No one else can say that." Luke whimpered. "That's the problem. No one else is like me."

Luke looked away, trying to distract himself from what he was thinking about. He found his eyes settling on the computer. He moved towards it and looked at the map that was on the screen.

"Checking up on the firm who built your new block. Coldfire Construction. They started expanding eighteen months ago, contracts all round the world. Some odd things cropping up. Now they're putting up school buildings all round London. Well, it makes a change for me. Not aliens, is it?"

Penny gave a quick snigger from the doorway.

"When have I heard that before? Oh, yes, when we were talking about Bubble Shock." Penny said.

Chrissie looked around Maria's house. She seemed impressed. She turned to Alan who was standing in the doorway.

"Alan, this is really kind of alright." Chrissie said.

"Thanks Chrissie, I really value your opinion." Alan said sarcastically.

Chrissie scolded him and then asked where she daughter was. Alan replied that he thought the day had gone well. It soon became clear that Chrissie had forgotten what Maria had been going through. She called Maria down.

Mr Blakeman pulled down the switch with a triumphant smile. He turned to Mr Jeffrey.

"Lights out London." Mr Blakeman laughed.

"School can't be that bad. I mean, like I said, it's a much better catchment area. Ooo, I've got to go, love. Ivan's taking me to the pub. It's opera night tonight. The waiters sing while you're eating." Chrissie announced.

Suddenly the lights dimmed and turned off. The three of them looked around, scanning the darkness. It was clear it was a power cut.

"There's a torch." Maria said, searching a cupboard.

She produced the torch and switched it out. There was a burst of light and then it dimmed and faded away.

"It's flat." Alan murmured. "I'll get the candles."

Penny and Luke had been listening to music on Penny's phone when the lights went out. Luke slipped his headphone out and looked around.

"Power cut?" he asked.

"Yeah." Sarah Jane said. "Penny, see if Mr Smith is working."

"Oi, Smithy!" Penny called. "Mr Smith?"

There was no reply. Penny shrugged.

"The computer has gone off and I hadn't saved my work." Sarah Jane moaned.

"Guess what? My phone's died." Penny said.

Luke slipped out his phone and checked it. He phone was also flat.

"I'll just see how long it's going be. If I can check the local power grid." Sarah Jane said, flicking open her watch.

The watch began its scans and then the power faded. Sarah Jane looked at it with surprise.

"But that's impossible. It never loses power. It can't lose power."

"There we go." Alan said, putting a set on candles on the table.

He produced a set of matches and then lit one. Chrissie was looking out of the window. She remarked how far the power cut went on for. She turned back to her family, ranting on about power cuts. Alan lit one of the candles then watched as it went out. Alan sighed and relit it. It went out again.

"Weird, why is that happening?" Maria asked, looking down at the candle.

She began to search for a draught. Chrissie sighed and took the matches. She lit one and then moved to light a candle. She lit one and it went out.

There was a flash of sparks flying f a piece of machinery and a sound that could have been an explosion. Mr Blakeman and Mr Jeffrey both ducked as the sparks rained down.

"What was that?" Mr Jeffrey yelped.

"It's destabilising!" Mr Blakeman roared back.

"Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!"

Mr Jeffrey panicked. The two men proceeded to turn off the machine quicker than lightening.

Chrissie smiled as the candle she lit stayed lit. She looked at Alan with a smug grin. Then the other candles, the ones that had been lit before, flared up and lit themselves. The torch comes back to life and then so do all the other lights. Maria glanced around.

"What?"

"We need to take Mr Smith off the main grid." Penny was saying as the lights came on. "The Bannerman road gang, saving the world unless there is a power cut, then we'll all stuffed."

"But there was just a power cut then and none of us are stuffed." Luke said.

"She means we can't do anything." Sarah Jane said.

She decided the check her watch. She slipped it open and stared at the display. It had power and was working fine.

"Weird." Penny remarked.

"Must be faulty." Luke said.

"Or the same thing that cut the electric off, cut this off." Sarah Jane murmured.

Mr Blakeman was being followed by Mr Jeffrey. The latter was moaning about their whole plan.

"Fantastic. Finally every station in the loop is working but the stabiliser cuts out." he moaned.

Mr Blakeman stopped walking down the corridor and turned to Mr Jeffrey. He assured him he would work out how to fix it.

"You brought those plans off that Wallarian. You took his word it worked!"

"I just need to sort out the storage problem, then it'll stabilise, okay?" Mr Blakeman snapped.

"Until then I'm stuck here, in this, teaching science on the planet Thick where they still haven't worked out string theory. Ooi, it chafes!"

Mr Blakeman smiled and reminded Mr Jeffrey of their ultimate goal: destroying the planet.

It was the next morning. Luke was nervous about school no matter how much Penny comforted him.

"My first lesson is with Mr Jeffrey. It's science, lab 2A." Luke said.

"You'll be fine. You're good at science." Sarah Jane murmured.

"Speaking about science. I'm going to have to pass up on your lunch time sciency thing. I've been given a few exercises from UNIT that I'm going to do in the gym at lunch." Penny said with a smile.

Luke gave a whimper. Maria had told him she couldn't make it the night before. She had said she was going to look round the school and get a feel for the place. Unlike Luke she didn't have the memory of ten thousand humans. Luke sighed and walked on, getting a bit of comfort from his adoptive mother. Penny smiled and kissed her mum's cheek, racing after Luke. She began to explain stuff to Luke that he needed to understand. Sarah Jane watched them walk down the road and then turned to Alan who was gardening. They talked a bit about gardening until Sarah Jane got down to business. She began to talk about the school Alan had talked about the day before.

Alan began to search through a cupboard. He talked to Sarah Jane while he was doing it. He told her about how much it cost and things like that.

"Where did the money come from?" Sarah Jane asked.

"I don't know. Private funding. What sort of journalist are you exactly?" Alan said.

"Freelance. Local stories. Nothing exciting."

"Maria was saying you travelled a fair bit."

Sarah Jane knew Alan was being friendly and smiled.

"You could say that. Everything was put on hold when Penny was born. I wouldn't mind travelling again through, maybe with Penny and Luke." Sarah Jane said.

Alan produced the plans for the building and placed them on the table in front of Sarah Jane. She scanned them until she noticed a strange section.

"What's that bit there? It's blank." Sarah Jane pointed out.

"I never went in. Coldfire kept it to themselves. It was all sealed off." Alan said.

"There's no door." Sarah Jane pointed out.

Alan joked about the school and someone hiding something. Sarah Jane was beginning to believe that it was happening but smiled and laughed it away.

"Do you mind if I keep this?" Sarah Jane asked, looking at the plans again.

"No, of course not." Alan said and let Sarah Jane leave with them.

"A transformer is an electrical device that changes the voltage of an alternating current supply, the AC supply, such as your, our mains electrical supply. Anybody know who invented the first transformer?"

Mr Jeffrey was droning on from the front of the class. Luke was sitting next to Clyde in the only spare seat. Penny was sitting near the back, watching the teacher with boredom in her eyes. It was no surprise when Luke was the only person who put his hand up.

"Faraday." he said.

Penny smiled. Once Luke had mastered the idea of putting your hand up to answer the question, he was answering every question possible.

"Correct." Mr Jeffrey said.

"But he didn't know what he could use it for." Luke added.

Mr Jeffrey looked at him with a frowned. The teacher seemed confused so Luke continued to explain.

"Faraday didn't know what he'd invented. I've thought about it, too. You could get rid of the transformers, get a better system and induct power instead."

"Geek!" someone in the class called.

Penny searched for the culprit and screwed up a bit of paper. She waited until Mr Jeffrey had turned away and threw the paper ball. It hit the boy in the back of the head and he turned to her. Penny smiled.

"Leave my brother alone." she hissed.

After that no one made fun of Luke until Clyde spoke up.

"Just pointing out. I'm nothing to do with him." Clyde joked.

The class laughed. Clyde turned to accept his praise. He saw Penny glaring at him and turned back shyly.

"Quiet!" Mr Jeffrey shouted.

He looked at Clyde with disgust in his eyes and asked for the boy's name.

"Clyde Langer." Clyde replied.

"Trouble maker, noted." Mr Jeffrey said and turned away once again, beginning to write on the board.

Luke looked around for Penny because he needed someone to explain something to him. He frowned when he realised that Penny was engaged in a conversation with the boy who had called him a geek. She looked rather annoyed. IN the end he turned to Clyde because Clyde seemed to be an expert in the way of being a teenager.

"You're cool because you make trouble. Should I make trouble?" Luke asked.

"I hear talking!" Mr Jeffrey roared.

Luke looked away from Clyde and back at his work. His attention was drawn to the boy once again when he heard a rummaging sound coming from the boy's bag. He was searching through it for something. Mr Jeffrey turned and looked at Clyde.

"What are you doing?" he snapped.

"My pen's run out. I'm getting a new one." Clyde lied.

Mr Jeffrey's shook his head. He grabbed a pair of tongs and walked over to the boy. He pulled out a plastic bag from the boy's school bag and sniffed it.

"What is it?"

"Cold chip sandwich. Made it this morning. Not chancing my life in that canteen again." Clyde said proudly.

Mr Jeffrey dumped the sandwich in a nearby glass tank full of stick insects. Clyde was horrified.

"Oi, that's my lunch. You can't do that!" he protested.

"You can wait until lunchtime and use the canteen like everybody else."

"I'll report you for that." Clyde said.

Mr Jeffrey turned to him. Luke expected an argument. Sarah Jane and Penny had had a small argument that morning when Penny had been sent a couple of UNIT files and tools. Sarah Jane had closed all the doors to the room they had been fighting in but Luke still heard it and he hadn't enjoyed it. He had come to the conclusion that arguments were bad. The bell saved Clyde from the fight.

"Right, for tomorrow, a thousand words on transformers."

The whole class, everyone apart from Luke, moaned and groaned. Mr Jeffrey smiled.

"Two thousand."

Sarah Jane had been show around St Cheldons by it's headmaster. The elderly head had been moaning about the new systems all the way round.

"I believe you had the wiring in your new block re-installed." Sarah Jane pressed.

"Didn't do any good. Computers keep crashing. And look."

The woman produced an apple from her handbag. At first it looked alright to Sarah Jane then the woman turned it. Sarah Jane could see a large section of mould. She grimanced.

"Fresh this morning. Everything goes off. And there's that smell, like batteries." the head teacher finished.

"Hasn't anyone noticed, complained?" Sarah Jane asked.

The head teacher nodded silently and talked about a school governor who had. They were now in hospital. Sarah Jane grimly thought how convenient it was and made a mental note to warn the gang about not complaining about it too openly.

"Can't you feel it, Miss Smith?" the head teacher mumbled. "Like a thunderstorm's moving in?"

A woman watched Sarah Jane on a screen. She thought there was something different about the woman. People who became too curious had accidents. It wouldn't be too hard to make an accident for Sarah Jane Smith.

Mr Blakeman was annoyed. Mr Jeffrey had come over to him talking about this supposed genius child.

"Incredible knowledge, this child, Luke Smith. He must be a freak." Mr Jeffrey rushed.

"You really think he can help us?" Mr Blakeman asked.

"Yes, we'll use him to solve the storage problem."

"A fourteen year old human child?" Mr Blakeman exclaimed, still unsure.

"There's something strange about him. These kids stink. Acne and grease and coats and crisps. But he smells fresh, like he's new."

Mr Blakeman finally agreed to let Mr Jeffrey use Luke for his plan.

"Welcome to Lunchtime Science Club. I had hoped for a slightly higher turnout, but never mind." Mr Jeffrey said, eyeing his class.

It was just Luke, sitting in the front row.

"I asked my sister to come but she wanted to go to the gym. I asked Maria to come but she wanted to look around. I asked Clyde to come but he..."

"I would rather have quality than quantity." Mr Jeffrey assured Luke.

That was when the door was opened and Carl walked in. He looked awkwardly at Luke and then at Mr Jeffrey.

"I'm Carl." he said to Luke.

"Luke. Pleased to meet you." He paused, remembering that Penny had told him a simply hi would do. "Hi."

"Carl's the science star of the school, supposedly. Though I imagine he's probably pretty rubbish compared to you. Take a look at this. Now, over the summer I've been having tons of jolly fun working on a new project. What do you make of this?" Mr Jeffrey said with a smile.

He put up a set of designs and lit up the panel behind them. Luke looked at the plans and realised what it was in an instant.

"It's a model for a giant capacitor system." he said.

" And purely theoretical, of course. Nobody could possibly build anything like this for real." Mr Jeffrey said quickly.

Luke was enchanted by the designs. He looked at them with a smile. They were much more complex than what he had been doing in the lessons previous. "You designed this?" Luke asked in awe.

He wondered if he could design something like it. Mr Jeffrey nodded proudly.

"Yes. I'm wasted here. Do you like it?"

"It's amazing." Luke breathed.

"Now I have a problem. It's a purely theoretical problem. Can you tell what it is?" Mr Jeffrey asked.

Luke studied the designs with the eye of a hawk. Beside him, Carl looked bewildered as his eyes glanced over the criss-crossing lines.

"Don't tell me. Oh, yeah. With this, you could store huge amounts of electrical energy. But there's a loophole. Here, in the storage, it wouldn't stabilise."

He pointed to a section of lines. Mr Jeffrey was amazed. He smiled and congratulated Luke.

"You went wrong here. You need to add an equation into the computer control." Luke worked out.

He processed everything and then scribbled down an equation on the board. To Mr Jeffrey and Carl the equation was a mass of numbers and Greek characters but to Luke it was simple to understand. He finished it and took a few moments to admire his work.

"I think that's right."

Carl stared at the equation, entirely confused.

"I'll take your word for it." he said.

"The power stabilises, all your problems are over." Luke said with a proud smile.

Mr Jeffrey smiled at the boy and then at the equation.

"Yes, all my problems are over. I don't know about yours through." he muttered to himself.

Penny was in the gym when her phone went off. Maria walked in just a Penny answered the phone. She signalled for Penny to put the phone on speaker and joined in the call. "Hi, mum." Penny said.

"Hi, Sarah Jane." Maria said.

"Hello, Penny, Maria. I've just been to a school called St Cheldons."

"Didn't I beat their whole athletics team in a race last year?" Penny asked.

"Knowing you it ." Sarah Jane said. "Their school has the same problem as yours. So I'm off to Coldfire construction."

"You could wait and me and Luke could join you. Maybe even Maria could be allowed to go."

"No. I have a different job for you. Have a look around your school. See if you work out where that smell is coming from." Sarah Jane instructed.

Maria nodded and Penny said goodbye to her mum. When she hung up, Maria turned to her.

"So what are you doing?"

"UNIT emailed me a few new training exercises." Penny said. "They also sent me a few new tools that mum disposed of."

Maria was interested. She had heard about UNIT when they had been dealing with Bubble Shock. Sarah Jane had explained it in more detail.

"So you and UNIT?" Maria hinted.

"My dad was a UNIT corporal. He was a great man and was very respected. Aliens wanted him dead. He met mum while they were stopping aliens together and the two fell in love. He died while mum was pregnant with me. He was shot by an alien called a Sontaran. UNIT said I had to take my mum's last name for my own safety because I couldn't be linked to my dad. When they found out that mum still fought aliens they told her to stop for my safety. Since mum was linked to UNIT before she met dad, they said she could continue if I got UNIT training. I'm now Private Penny Smith of UNIT. When I'm older they've offered me a job but I wanted to work for Torchwood."

"What's Torchwood?" Maria asked.

She had not wanted to ask the question. Penny had seemed so upset going over her story. Maria had felt wrong and rude asking the question.

"Another time." Penny said with a smile.

The two teachers were standing in the science lab, looking at the equation Luke had written on the board.

"Result." Mr Jeffrey cheered.

"Yes, that's it. And he just handed it over." Mr Blakeman laughed.

Mr Jeffrey continued to gloat.

"At last we will be avenged! We'll finish this planet tonight." Mr Blakeman finished.

The group were walking around after school. They were in the playground, trying to work out where they should go and look first.

"Someone looks happy." Penny said when Luke walked over.

"I had double maths this afternoon." Maria grumbled.

"Science club was brilliant. Mister Jeffrey's really nice. I think we're going to be friends." Luke beamed.

"You don't make friends with a teacher." Penny said quickly.

"Why not?" Luke asked.

"You just don't." Maria said with a shrug. "Anyway, Sarah Jane called. She wants us to look inside the new block."

Suddenly Clyde walked up behind them. He interrupted their conversation as if they were all best friends.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"We're investigating the new block." Luke said truthfully.

"I left something in the new block." Maria said quickly, pretending to correct Luke.

Maria lead Luke away before he had chance to deny it. Penny was about to follow them when Clyde grabbed her arm.

"What is it with those two? I've seen weird people. I know weird people. But those two, they're beyond weird."

"And I hang around with them and one of them is my brother. If you're going to keep insulting them then I suggest you go and find some 'normal' people." Penny said and moved off after her friends.

Clyde watched her with a frown. He shook his head and then followed them.

Sarah Jane looked around the Coldfire construction building. For a company that was an international building firm, the office was tatty. Sarah Jane wasn't sure what to make of the building. A woman stopped her in her path. The woman smiled at Sarah Jane.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

The group had decided to split up. Penny had gone with Maria to check the top floor. Luke was checking the bottom. While wondering round, Luke had been found by Clyde. Luke had tried to focus on the job in hand but Clyde was trying to work out what was going on. Penny acted weird around her brother. He had decided that Luke was the source of the problems.

"I want answers. Where are you from?"

"London." Luke answered but then returned back to focusing on what he was doing. "The layout of this building doesn't make any sense."

"But where have you been all your life? You don't know farting's funny, you let your mum kiss you in public, you didn't recognise what was going on when someone was hitting on your sister. Where was your last school?"

"I've never been to school before." Luke answered.

"What? Your mum taught you at home? Why did she send Penny to school?" Clyde asked, forgetting about Luke being adopted.

Luke reminded him. He began to work out what was going on with the rooms. He was doing calculations in his head with a smile.

"But what about your real mum and dad?" Clyde asked.

"I haven't got a mum or dad." Luke said simply, without even blinking.

"Everybody's got a mum or dad. I've got a dad, somewhere."

"This block measures about one thousand five hundred and thirty nine metres squared, so double that for both floors. The area of each room doesn't add up to that. So there's an empty space. Through there. I think you should go home." Luke said.

The woman had introduced herself as Janine. She had told Sarah Jane to take a seat in the rubbish office they were in.

"Janine. I've been reading up as much as I could. It's not just these school projects in London. You've moved from country to country, hiring cheap local labour, no questions asked."

"Yes?" Janine said as if wondering what Sarah Jane was getting at.

Sarah Jane pressed on using her investigator tone. She managed to make her questions dig in and sound strong. She refused to take no for an answer. Her children and her friend were possibly in danger at Coldfire construction.

"At your building in Santiago, workers refuse to go in. Food goes off. Endless technical problems. Valencia, Paris, the same story. And another thing. The plans for each building have a large empty area behind a wall. Why is that?"

Luke was walking down a corridor, looking from side to side, trying to understand his findings.

"There's another room, a secret room, behind there." Luke said.

It was clear he was talking him himself but Clyde thought Luke might be able to listen to him. He wasn't sure if the boy was ignoring him or simply too interested in what he doing to reply.

"Oh, I'm not getting through here. Stop being strange!" Clyde shouted and stormed away.

Maria was looking around one of the computer rooms with Penny. When the door was opened, the two girls looked at each other and then darted under a nearby table. They hid, unsure who was coming.

"Who's that? Hello? I know you're in here. I can smell you. Oh, a little girl, fresh as a daisy. Sugar and spice and all things nice. She really shouldn't be hanging around school after home time. Not when I've got no reason to hide in this stupid skin any longer." Mr Jeffrey called, slamming his fists down on a table.

Penny and Maria tucked their legs in, pulling themselves into the shadows.

Sarah Jane was leafing through papers, showing each of them to Janine.

"I think that because these projects are so far apart, nobody connects you with the problems, so on you go." Sarah Jane said.

She was pressing in deep, asking question after question, demanding answers. Janine was beginning to get angry and defensive. All that it told Sarah Jane was that Janine had something to hide, something for Sarah Jane to uncover.

"I strongly advise you to leave right now, if you know what's good for you."

"Is that a threat?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yes." Janine said truthfully.

She gave Sarah Jane an open smile.

"What?" Sarah Jane exclaimed, having been expecting a lie.

Mr Jeffrey reached up to his forehead and began to pull on some sort of zip. Penny and Maria shifted round so they could look under the table at the teacher. Light was cast around the room.

"After all, why should I hide?" Mr Jeffrey asked.

Janine had been smiling. Sarah Jane didn't like the smile she was getting off the woman. She wanted to get away before the woman did something dangerous.

" Well, that was your last chance, Miss Smith. Be fair. I did give you fair warning." Janine said.

She reached up to her forehead and began to pull across it.

Penny and Maria looked under the bottom as Mr Jeffrey dropped his skin. Maria gasped. They could see large green feet.

"We need to go." Penny whispered.

Penny and Maria stood up and looked at what Mr Jeffrey had become. He was a large, fat green alien with massive claws. Penny and Maria darted from the room.

"I am Slitheen! Oh, I love it when they run." Mr Jeffrey called.

Mr Blakeman was in the control room. His eyes settled on a computer screen with a frown. A boy was on the screen, standing just outside the door to the room. He recognised the boy: Luke Smith.

"Your Luke Smith's too clever by half. He's right outside!" Mr Blakeman moaned.

He heard Mr Jeffrey's voice over the monitor.

"There are two more. Two girls. I'm after them now. Oh, it feels good, after so long." Mr Jeffrey said.

"Rejoice in your hunt, brother." Mr Blakeman congratulated.

Sarah Jane was hiding behind one of the massive piles of cardboard boxes that were in the warehouses. Janine was in her Slitheen form. She was searching for Sarah Jane around the room.

"I know you're in here. I can smell you. Mmm, what lovely perfume you're wearing, Miss Smith. You're positively fragrant." Janine said.

Sarah Jane took it all in and wondered, prayed, that there would be no Slitheens in the school.

Clyde was standing in the corridor and heard footsteps running towards him. He turned and looked down the corridor, seeing Maria and Penny running towards him. He wasn't sure what to do but he grabbed both Penny and Maria by their arms.

"We need to get out of here now! Come on!" Maria shouted.

"What?" Clyde called.

"Where's Luke?" Penny asked.

"I know you're out their, girlies!" Mr Jeffrey shouted.

"That's only Mr Jeffrey." Clyde laughed.

He had thought that they would be in real danger.

"And there's another one! A boy! This hunt is getting even better." "You are sad. Hiding from a teacher. What's he going to do, give you a detention?" Clyde laughed. "Clyde, move!" Penny shouted.

Then the Slitheen came round the corner. Joy glinted it in its large baby-like black eyes. A smile crossed its sharp teeth laden mouth.

"Come on!" Maria urged.

"Oh, no. Oh, no!" Clyde said releasing the girls.

The boy was frozen to the spot for a few seconds but Maria and Penny pulled him after them as the Slitheen closed in.

The Janine Slitheen was annoyed. Sarah Jane had disappeared into hiding without even running that far. It wasn't a real hunt until she ran.

"Run!" she urged. "It's no fun if you don't run."

One of Janine's claws hands clipped the boxes Sarah Jane was hiding behind and sent them tumbling to the floor. Sarah Jane was knocked to the floor along with the boxes. Janine looked down at here.

"The smell of human fear. Love it!"

"Kiddies! Kiddiewinks! Run as fast as you can." Mr Jeffrey called, sniffing the air.

He found the familiar scent of his three prey and smiled, raising his claws. He began to speed up.

"I'm coming to find you!"

Luke looked at the panel in front of him. He knew that there had to be a door somewhere but he was faced by a wall panel. He began to think through it logically.

"It's a door. And every door must have a door handle. About here."

Luke pressed his hand level to the where the door-handle would be. He took a step back as the panel slid open. He managed a weak smile and then walked in.

Maria, Clyde and Penny where hiding under the stairs. Mr Jeffrey was searching for them above their head. Clyde was calming down, getting over his first shock about aliens. He was watching the girls as Penny and Maria went through their options. "Can't you just kick it like you did with the Bane?" Maria asked.

"And let it claw at my leg. We need to find Luke."

"We need to get out of here." Maria said.

"We can't. We need to fight them." Clyde said. "With what?" Penny asked.

Suddenly the door just across the room opened. Carl was standing there. He smiled at Penny, Maria and Clyde.

"Come here."

Maria and Clyde moved towards Carl. Penny looked at him suspiciously and held back. She didn't trust Carl. Something about him was just wrong. Maria looked back at Penny with worry in her eyes.

"Penny!" Maria screamed.

Penny glanced up and saw a claw coming flying down towards her. Mr Jeffrey had found her. The girl dropped just in time and the claw flew into the space her head had been seconds before. She slid across the floor and, when she got up, she was next to Maria. Clyde looked at her.

"What was that?" Clyde managed, surprised.

_Sooner or later he's going to work out that me and Maria have fought aliens before. Bummer. _Penny thought.

"Just get inside." she instructed.

Luke was frightened and surprised by the massive machine. Wires and sparks littered his path. Luke could make sense of what he was seeing and he didn't like it. He wasn't happy about what he was seeing. He suddenly heard a voice and spun. Mr Blakeman was blocking his path out.

"So Luke, how do you like our little science project?"

Maria, Penny and Clyde looked around the room they were in. They was gasping for breath, unable to really talk. They had just been chased around the block several times. Penny snapped back into action first, rushing over to one side of the science lab they were in, beginning to search for weapons. Clyde turned to Maria, demanding answers. This time they couldn't avoid the questions. Clyde was already part of it.

"So where's Jeffrey? I heard him."

"That's Jeffrey." Maria remarked. "That thing chasing us."

"He's an alien." Penny explained.

"Oh, I'll believe it. Why not?" Clyde said; he knew he couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes.

Maria turned to Carl so she could start doing work.

"Thanks for saving us. Is there a way out from here?" she asked.

"No. There's no way out." Carl said.

He sounded gleeful. Penny didn't like it. She noticed with horror that Carl was standing between them and the door.

"Get back! Back, back, back!" she ordered.

Carl farted and lifted up his fringe. He unzipped his forehead. Penny and Maria had seen it before so they knew what was coming. Clyde looked a bit sick. The Carl skin suit was dropped to the floor and Penny frowned.

"I am a child of the Slitheen, and this is my hunt!"

**Happy birthday to my little sister! Whoa! Whoop!**


	4. Revenge of the Slitheen part 2

**Sorry, it's been a while. No excuses though. Don't hate me.**

**I don't own the Sarah Jane Adventures.**

Clyde looked at the two girls with a frown. He didn't like the idea of getting killed by the alien. He grabbed Penny and Maria by the arms and pulled them away from the creature.

"Run!" he instructed.

They raced around a desk with the Slitheen waddling after them. They pulled the door open and flew outside and into the other room, hoping that Mr Jeffrey wasn't there.

Mr Blakeman lunged at Luke. The boy dodged and pushed Mr Blakeman towards the machines. He didn't understand the need for violence but it had gotten Penny out of trouble with aliens. Luke ran out of the secret room and sprinted down the corridor.

Slitheen Janine had got Sarah Jane in her reach. Sarah Jane knew she needed escape before Janine managed to hit her. She needed to think of a plan to escape.

"Good sense of smell, have you?" Sarah Jane asked, a plan forming.

"Oh, yes, best nostrils in the galaxy, official." the Slitheen boasted.

"And you like my perfume?" Sarah Jane added.

"Lovely!" Janine remarked.

Sarah Jane reached into her handbag and produced her perfume.

"Then sniff this!" Sarah Jane shouted and sprayed the perfume.

Janine screeched in pain and pulled back, trying to make sure that she didn't breath in too much. Sarah Jane smashed the bottle on the floor and raced from the room, through the fire escape. She pulled the door closed behind her and soniced it shut. Then she drove off.

Luke smiled when he saw Penny and Maria running towards him. His smile fell when he saw Clyde and the Slitheen child.

"I've found a secret room." Luke said proudly.

"Not now, bro." Penny called, half pushing Luke towards the doors.

The automatic doors refused to open even as the teenagers slammed against them. They all looked over their shoulders, spying on the approaching Slitheens.

"Get it open!" Maria called.

"It's locked." Luke reported, sounding scared.

"That thing's real, isn't it?" Clyde asked.

"It's real." Penny replied.

"This place is sealed. You're finished, right here, right now." the young Slitheen taunted.

Two Slitheens were moving towards them. The teenagers looked at each other and then decided that they had to race off before they were cornered by the creatures.

"This way." Maria called, heading down one corridor.

Suddenly the two Slitheens blocked the way down the corridor. Luke, Clyde and Penny looked at each other with wide eyes. The boys and Penny ended up running up the stairs.

"Hurry up!" Luke called.

Sarah Jane was driving along at high speed, trying to get to the school as soon as possible. She had to warn the teenagers about the danger they were in. She made a hands-free phone call to Luke to warn him.

"I was wrong, it is aliens." Sarah Jane said.

"I know." Luke said.

There was a roar down the phone to demonstrate how clear it was to her son that there was an alien.

"Make a smell. Make a big enough smell and you can get away." Sarah Jane said.

Clyde looked at Luke as if he was insane. Luke had just explained what his mother had said. Penny looked at Luke and nodded.

"What will we do?" Clyde asked. "Fart our way out?"

Penny was about to tell Clyde to stop being stupid when Luke asked if it would be funny.

"What?" Clyde exclaimed.

"Come on, little ones." Mr Jeffrey called down the corridor.

Penny pulled Luke and Clyde behind a wall. She knew it wouldn't be very useful in stopping Mr Jeffrey from finding them but it might help Clyde think better. Penny had ditched her school bag when they had first seen the Slitheen and Luke would have remembered if he had put anything that would make a big smell. Clyde began to look through his bag.

"They're nearby daddy, I can smell them." Carl said.

"Hurry up." Penny urged, glancing round the corner. "Think, Luke, Clyde, strong smells."

"A skunk?" Luke suggested.

It was Penny who shot Luke a completely confused look as if he was insane.

"Where are we meant to find this skunk?" Penny asked, letting Clyde sort through his bag.

"Yes, found it." Clyde said, victorious.

"Wolverine, pure masculine action." Luke read.

Clyde pulled Penny and Luke behind him and held up the spray. He sent a massive burst of the smell at the creatures. The Slitheens fell back and wriggled in pain. They began to cough.

"Go, go, go!" Clyde ordered.

The three of them thundered down the stairs.

Sarah Jane rushed forwards. She looked at the doors. Maria had found the others. They rushed over to the doors.

"Hunt them!" Mr Jeffrey bellowed.

"Sarah Jane!" Luke shouted, slamming on the door.

"Come on, Sarah Jane!" Maria called.

"Mum! The door's locked!"

Sarah Jane realised what he daughter was saying and realised she needed her sonic lipstick. She fired it at the door and it opened. She rushed forwards and opened the next set. The teenagers rushed forwards and towards the car. Sarah Jane soniced the doors closed on the Slitheens as soon as the teenagers where in the car. As the car started, Clyde turned to Luke.

"What's that?" Clyde asked, nodding towards the sonic lipstick.

"Sonic lipstick." Luke answered.

"Oh, of course." Clyde muttered.

Sarah Jane turned to Penny who was, like normal, sitting next to her.

"I let you have one friend, what's that boy doing here? Luke, Maria and now this boy; how many more, Penny?"

"Sorry." Penny muttered. "Another life in my hands is all I need." Sarah Jane said.

Mr Jeffrey turned to Mr Blakeman. Mr Jeffrey was still in his Slitheen form as was Carl.

"They're getting away." Mr Jeffrey moaned.

"That's not fair, Daddy. The woman cheated. I want my hunt." Carl added.

"That woman had some sort of sonic disruptor. This is a level five planet, they're primitives. How did she get that? Who is she?" Mr Blakeman asked, considering Sarah Jane's tool.

"The galactic police!" Mr Jeffrey gasped. "She could be one of their agents."

"No, she's human. The human child said that was her mother and she smelt soupy. They all do. Still, if that's her only weapon, she's no big deal." Mr Blakeman pointed out.

Clyde took in the wonder of Sarah Jane's house. Sarah Jane and her two children moved into the house in a rush. Clyde managed to catch onto Maria's arm, stopping her from disappearing into the massive building.

"I want answers. I've just been chased by aliens and you aren't even freaking out. Why? Who are you?" Clyde asked.

Maria paused and looked at Sarah Jane who glanced back at her.

"I'll be up in a minute." Maria said.

She guessed Sarah Jane was expecting a repeat of how Kelsey had acted, a barrage of insults and screaming until everything she had seen had been denied.

"You've got to go home." Maria instructed. "Forget this ever happened. Go home."

"No, I'm part of this now. I want to find out the truth. What's in there and who's that woman?"

"Just leave us alone, okay? You clearly don't think we're cool enough to hang around with you." Maria tried.

"The police won't leave you alone when I call them and tell them what happened. That woman would end up in prison and Penny and Luke... Who knows? Show me." Clyde said.

Maria pulled a face, looking hesitant. Clyde probably didn't know how much damage he could do if he called the police. Sarah Jane would be put in prison or made to change her identity; her whole life would be taken away from her. Penny would end up getting put into UNIT's care because Sarah Jane had let the secret get found out. Luke would end up in some sort of prison due to his differences. Maria had no idea what would happen to her or her dad. She frowned and then nodded at Clyde. She let him follow her up the stairs.

Mr Blakeman turned to Mr Jeffrey. They had sent the boy away so they could talk.

"At last, we've waited so long for this moment." Mr Blakeman said with a smile.

"Time's have been hard." Mr Jeffrey added with a nod of agreement.

"They've been closing in on us from all sides. Judoon, forcing us out, the other families against us. This will give us a new beginning. Wealth, security." Mr Blakeman replied.

"When we have the money, what then?" Mr Jeffrey asked.

"We'll buy a fleet of battle cruisers. Return home to Raxacoricofallapatorius. I shall smite the Grand Council, crush the Senate. The Blathereen and the Hostrozeen will beg for mercy at my feet! But we mustn't get carried away. First things first. We have the equation. Nothing can stop us. Now it begins."

Sarah Jane was pacing the attic. Penny was watching her and Luke. The boy was coping with what was happening very well. Sarah Jane was reading from her wristwatch scanner. Luke had remembered the name of the alien.

"The inhabitants of Raxa, Raxa, oh..."

Sarah Jane gave up and let Luke read the name of the plant off the scanner.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius." Luke said.

"Great name. Why can't our planet be called that?" Penny asked.

"Because humans need to be able to pronounce the name of the planet." Sarah Jane smiled.

Penny nodded and let her mum get back to reading from the wrist watch.

"The outcast Slitheen Family are scavengers, thieves of others technology. Known to infiltrate low-tech planets by hiding in the skins of the dominant native species." She paused. "Slitheen in Downing Street."

"What?" Luke asked.

"Something a friend said once." Sarah Jane said.

"What that before or after someone blew it up?" Penny asked.

Sarah Jane shrugged. She got back to reading.

"Gas exchange from skin compression often results in..."

"Farting!" Luke exclaimed. "Farting's funny."

Penny looked at Clyde and Maria as they walked in. She sighed, looking at Clyde.

"I thought you were getting rid of him." Penny said; she turned to Clyde. "No offence."

"Great. Nice to feel popular." Clyde replied. "What's going on here?"

"Why don't you bring all your friends round? The whole school?" Sarah Jane asked.

She directed her fury at Penny and Maria. She knew that this boy was Clyde because Penny had mentioned his name on the way. She didn't direct it towards Luke because she knew he didn't really like Clyde much.

"If he tells anyone, who's going to believe him?" Maria asked.

"Whoa, wait. I've just had monsters from outer space on my back and no one's me what's going on." Clyde interrupted.

"Shut up for the minute, will you. I'm busy, and right now you're not important. Even if it is getting like Clapham Junction up here. Right. The Slitheen must have taken over Coldfire Construction, put up buildings all around the world. Why?" Sarah Jane asked to no one in particular.

"I think I know." Luke said. "There's a hidden room in the school. I saw inside."

"What's in there?" Maria asked, turning to Luke.

"I've got a theory. Mr Smith could help." Luke said.

"Okay, call him out." Penny said.

"Who's that? Your dad?" Clyde asked.

"Mr Smith, I need you." Sarah Jane said.

Mr Smith opened up. Penny turned to Clyde. She had seen the fractures start to appear in his calm nature. She saw the way he reacted. He half-leapt back, half-watched with a smile. He was amazed.

"Good afternoon, Sarah Jane." Mr Smith said. "I trust Penny and Luke had a good day at school."

"Yeah, it was great." Penny said.

"Is that a computer?" Clyde almost screamed.

"Who's that?" Mr Smith asked. "Nobody." Sarah Jane said. "Mr Smith, Luke would like some help."

"Certainly." Mr Smith replied in his crisp tone. "Hello, Luke." Maria moved towards Mr Smith, losing interest in Clyde and becoming more interested in the computer.

"Hello, Mister Smith. Bring up our satellite image of London. Now plot the exact positions of every school put up by Coldfire Construction." Luke pointed at a section of the map. "Ealing, that's us."

Sarah Jane began to list off the places they had each place there was a site. It was Clyde who made the link first.

"The ends of tube lines!" he pointed out proudly. "If I'm allowed to speak."

"You have permission only if you're saying something useful." Penny said with a regal nod.

"This is real. All of it's real. The talking computer's real, the Slitheens are real."

"Now you're not being useful. Could you take everything in silently or leave the room so we can save the planet without needing to listen to you?" Penny asked.

She offered Clyde a smile to show him she was only joking but it did it's job and Clyde fell quiet to allow Luke and Sarah Jane to work on their map.

"Mister Smith, plot the position of every Coldfire building put up in the last eighteen months around the world."

"Accessing." Mr Smith said. A map of the world appeared on his screen and several dots decorated. Sarah Jane scanned them. They weren't all capital cities. In fact Sarah Jane struggled to make a link between them all. "They all have underground railways." Maria pointed out.

Sarah Jane turned back to the map and frowned. Maria was right.

"You don't have to thank me." Clyde said.

"We weren't." Luke replied simply.

"Oh, Langer, I believe my bro just burnt you." Penny joked.

"London, Barcelona, Washington DC, Santiago, Los Angeles, Sydney, Beijing, Moscow, Naples, Paris." Mr Smith listed.

"There has to be at least one Slitheen at each site." Luke predicted.

"Ten cities. Ten sites." Clyde breathed. "Call the army!"

"Oh right, because that always makes things better, doesn't it?" Maria snapped.

"It's not your job." Clyde replied.

"Only it is." Penny smirked.

"There's a cleverer way of going about things. But what's it all for? What are they doing? The secret room, what was in there?" Sarah Jane replied.

Luke had come to a sickening realisation as his mind danced over the memories of the room. He had remembered the room's equipment and what it clearly was for. He turned to Sarah Jane and looked straight at her, searching for forgiveness and reassurance.

"Sarah Jane. I've done something really stupid. A really bad social mistake. I told the Slitheen how to destroy the world." Luke murmured, having gone white.

The Slitheen prowled their control room with smiles. Everything was going to plan.

"I've input the boy's catalyst equation. Now it works perfectly. We'll take the night side first, build up the charge section by section. This is Glune Fex Fize Sharleveer-Slam Slitheen to all Slitheen units. Is everybody ready?" Mr Blakeman said with a loud laugh.

Luke was still distraught. He was looking guilt and could barely keep eye contact with the others. He felt so ashamed like he always did when he made a mistake.

"It wasn't working until I gave the the answers." Luke mumbled.

"Oh, Luke." Sarah Jane gasped and hugged her son. "It's okay, bro." Penny called, moving towards her brother.

Luke continued to think every step though, half silently but every so often saying a sentence. Maria herself had come up with something strange. Luke had said it was for storing massive amounts of electrical energy.

"But out candles when out and that's not electrical." Maria said.

"When the capacitors are charged up they act as transducers, converting heat and light into electrical energy. That's how the loop works, it's not connected physically." Mr Smith explained.

Penny and Maria both nodded, pretending to understand the theory completely.

"But what have underground railways got to do with that?" Penny asked.

"The system must generate enormous heat. The underground railways must act as a cooling system." Sarah Jane pointed out.

"Oh, I'm glad we got that sorted out." Clyde muttered sarcastically.

"People getting ill, food going off, that's the effect of living or working next to the capacitors." Sarah Jane added.

She was giving an confirming answer from Mr Smith. Penny had moved over to her brother and was trying to calm him down while Sarah Jane worked.

"With this system they can drain every last drop of energy from the Earth. Our school's the last link in the chain." Luke said, still feeling guilty he had made it possible.

"But it needs the whole chain all together to do that?" Maria questioned.

Luke nodded slowly.

Clyde smiled at Penny and suggested they bomb the school. He had an excited glint in his eye as if he actually believed it was an option. Penny shook her head but didn't say anything.

"If we could get in there, could you destroy the power system safely?" Sarah Jane asked."I think so." Luke said, not completely sure. "If we reset the system, shut it down for just a second. I'd need a cutting tool." "What about this?"

Sarah Jane produced her sonic lipstick. Luke nodded.

"How do we get past the Slitheen?" Maria asked, wondering if Sarah Jane had even thought about it.

"We bomb them?"

"Can you stop talking about bombs?" Sarah Jane asked. "You're as bad as Penny when she first started dealing with aliens."

"Oi." Penny cried, pretending to be offended. "I thought we should shoot them."

"Sarah Jane, I've just picked up this report on an American news channel." Mr Smith announced.

Everyone turned to face the screen as an America News reporter appeared on it. The words 'Breaking news' were on the bottom of the screen.

"Breaking news. There's a massive loss of power on the west coast of North America. Los Angeles has gone dark." the reporter said.

"It's starting." Penny breathed.

"And I told them how to do it. The day I was born I saved the world. Now I've helped to destroy it." Luke whimpered, sounding like once again, he was the terrified and confused Archetype.

Sarah Jane snapped into action. She looked at Penny and made sure her daughter was comforting Luke. They needed him to be at his best.

"Mr Smith, give me everything you've got on the inhabitants of..." Sarah Jane trailed off, pointing at Luke and Penny.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius." Luke and Penny said simultaneously.

"You're making that up." Clyde accused.

"Yep and we made up the Slitheens too." Penny replied sarcastically.

Sarah Jane ignored them. Penny had always been a bit cheeky. The girl had always been able to stay calm in any situation but, when she was with another children with a cheeky or jokey attitude, Penny took up that characteristic with a vengeance. Sarah Jane loved that about her daughter. When most people saw what they had, it aged them. With Penny it made her even more youthful.

"Any weaknesses? Anything we can use against them?" Sarah Jane requested.

Mr Smith began his work. Maria turned to Luke and began to comfort him.

"Anyone could have made that mistake."

"No, only he could." Clyde pointed out.

"Clyde!" Penny exclaimed. "Shut up."

"Well, duh. Let's have a high school musical moment. A group hug will sort everything out."

"Clyde, I just hope you remember _we're all in this together_." Penny smirked.

Clyde laughed at that. He patted Penny on the back. Luke was beginning to calm down, being disarmed by the fact that none of them had even made a serious move to blame him for what happened.

"You're right. As if a teacher could have worked out that diagram." Luke said.

Mr Smith stopped going over the creatures of the universe and brought up a news report. It was the same reporter and she had even more grave news.

"And the power loss is spreading westwards. China is now without power, and it may be only a matter of time before the effect spreads here." Then the lights went out where the woman was. "Oh."

The signal died and Mr Smith announced he had lost it.

"Anything on the Slitheen yet?" Sarah Jane pressed.

Mr Smith got back to work.

Everything was going on plan. Each of the other nine sites had finished their work. It was only London to go. Mr Blakeman thanked France, the last site to turn out their lights before theirs and then got to work. He threw orders at Mr Jeffrey who, still in his Slitheen form, galumphed about. It soon became clear that Mr Blakeman would be a lot quicker doing everything for himself.

The attic had been a buzz of energy before. Now it was almost silent as Mr Smith worked. The silence gave Clyde chance to take everything in. Aliens. The weird, half hidden, Penny Smith, her strange mother and two new children fought aliens. Clyde looked at them all with disbelief. He couldn't believe it. That morning aliens had been the production of dodgy films, now aliens were attempting to kill them. He had used to fancy Penny. He had thought she was sweet. He kinda still did. Her weirdness had stopped her from him asking her out. This weirdness kinda made her seem even more beautiful. When he had seen her in the park that night, he had been trying not to blush throughout their whole conversation.

"Mr Smith does like to take his time." Sarah Jane said, pulling Clyde from his thoughts.

"Come on." Maria urged.

Suddenly Mr Smith came back with answer.

"Raxacoricofallapatorians. Calcium-based life-forms." Mr Smith announced.

"Give us the weaknesses." Penny said.

Everyone had jumped to their feet the moment Mr Smith had spoke. Clyde found himself amazed the he was also caught up in the adrenaline. He was an into it as the rest.

"Weaknesses." Mr Smith began. "They are a naturally hardy race. However their bodies are notoriously hypersensitive to..."

The power went out. Everyone stared at Mr Smith's blank screen for a few moments and then they felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

Sarah Jane was staring down at the sonic lipstick. It had no power. Luke was looking at the wires and makings of Mr Smith but Penny knew that nothing could be done. "Penny did say we would be stuffed if the power went out." Luke said.

Penny pretended to wipe a tear from her eye and smiled proudly, "You got an expression right, Luke."

"Don't congratulate him. It's real. The end of the world, thanks to him." Clyde moaned.

Penny knew he didn't really mean it but he wasn't used to what was happening. Truthfully, her and Sarah Jane were the only people used to it but Penny wasn't going to say that.

"Will you shut up?" Maria spat, not knowing that Clyde hadn't really meant it.

Penny had her head resting in her hands. Sarah Jane looked at her for help, a plan.

"No Mister Smith, no sonic lipstick, no plan B." Sarah Jane summed up.

Penny nodded and looked at the others. Luke looked on the verge of tears. Clyde looked like he was caught up in the action and not ready to come up with a plan. Maria was comforting Luke and focusing on that.

"But we're the only people in the world who can stop this." Penny said. "Only us. Four teenagers and a journalist who everyone thinks is not all there. We're all that can save the world."

"And we will." Sarah Jane said, gaining motivation. "Time to go back to school."

They hurried down the stairs and were at the door when they finally let Clyde speak.

"Without the sonic thing we can't stop them. Plus they'll get us before we even reach there." Clyde said.

It was negativity they didn't need. They were already having their doubts about their plan; the group didn't need someone picking holes in it. Sarah Jane looked at him.

"If you can't say anything useful, go home."

Clyde searched the faces of Luke, Maria and Penny. He suddenly realised something: if they survived it then he was never going to have a normal life again. He was always going to have the memories of the creatures and the sense of enjoyment he was experiencing. He was never going to be able to look at anything else in the same way every again. Only those three would properly understand him; their ages and experiences matched. He suddenly knew he had to prove himself or lose the three teenagers.

"Wait! This morning, Jeffery, the Slitheen Jeffrey, he went mad when he nicked my bag."

"So?" Maria asked; they didn't need a waste of time.

Clyde turned to Penny and Luke, trying to force them to remember.

"What's a Slitheen gonna care about that? You saw him. He sniffed it. He was scared."

"It was your lunch. He sniffed your lunch." Penny pointed out.

"Well what was in your lunch?"

"Cold chip sandwich. I made it this morning. I wasn't going to eat anything from the canteen of death." Clyde laughed.

"So, the Slitheen are allergic to potato? Bread? Butter?" Maria asked, frantic.

"The Slitheen who attacked me was eating a sandwich." Sarah Jane said. "What was on those chips?" "Just salt and vinegar." Clyde remembered.

"Salt." Maria said. "If the Slitheen are made mostly of water, it would dehydrate them, like slugs." Luke reasoned.

Penny shook her head.

"No, they put extra salt in everything. Bread, butter. It's got to be something else." She turned to her brother. "What do you do to slugs?"

"It's got to be the vinegar." Clyde decided.

He looked at the others to see if they approved.

"Vinegar," Luke reasoned, "that's acetic acid. It reacts with calcium."

"Slitheen are made of calcium. I'm right, it's the vinegar." Clyde said.

Penny and Maria beamed at him to show him he was finally being useful. Sarah Jane turned and marched away.

"Kitchen!" she ordered and the teenagers raced after her.

Clyde didn't know where everything was so was standing in the kitchen as everyone rushed around him. Luke and Penny were looting the cupboards, taking out everything and anything that contained vinegar, and Maria was helping Sarah Jane find plastic squeezies to make spraying the vinegar easier.

"So what are we going to do, just stand there and throw pickled eggs at them?" Clyde remarked.

Luke smiled as he put the pickled eggs on the table, thinking he had finally do something socially right.

"I knew they were useful for something." Penny laughed, undoing the lid.

"I was joking." Clyde told them.

Sarah Jane put the empty spray bottles on the table and told the teenagers to get it all in. Penny nodded and began. Clyde looked at the bottles disapprovingly.

"Don't you have a water pistol or something?" Clyde asked Penny.

"I had no siblings." Penny said with a shrug.

Clyde realised that Penny had never really had any friends and guessed that fighting aliens was the reason. Penny handed Clyde a bottle of vinegar and a spray bottle. He began to help. When they were nearly finished, Luke looked at his mother.

"The car's not going to start. We'll have to run." the teenager pointed out.

His mother didn't seem to mind. Neither did Penny who actually smiled at the idea of a run.

"No everyone is UNIT fitness trained." Maria remarked, catching sight of Penny's smile.

The girl shrugged back in reply and left the room.

People were getting out of their dead cars and staring at the other drivers. The group had to swerve to avoid them in their running. Clyde was intent on asking questions. He was going to run into deadly danger and he wanted to know why and who with.

"Right, so all this alien stuff, you've been doing it for years?" Clyde asked.

"Not now, Clyde." Sarah Jane snapped.

"What, did you actually go up to the career guy at school and say, I want to defend the planet from alien invaders?" Clyde asked.

Sarah Jane pulled him to a stop so she could talk to him properly.

"It's a long story. If we survive, I'll be happy to tell you."

Suddenly the sky went dark. Everyone began to look around until Penny looked upwards. She elbowed Luke in the ribs and he looked up. Everyone else followed suit. The sun was blue, looking like it had gone out.

"What's going on?" Clyde asked.

"It's transduction, like the candles." Luke explained, not taking his eyes off the amazing sight above them.

"They've switched off the sun." Maria gasped.

"No exactly. They're converting all the energy that reaches our planet. Still lots but the sun is still heating the other planets. The Venusians will be happy about that." Penny said with a nod.

"It's getting cold." Maria said.

"Yeah, we're all going to freeze unless we stop it." Penny replied calmly.

"We've got about thirty two and a half minutes." Luke said.

"About?" Penny exclaimed. "That's pretty precise." "Everyone's going to die." Clyde murmured.

"I told you, we're going to stop them." Sarah Jane replied with determination.

"What? The five of us with vinegar in plastic squeezies?"

Carl frowned as he spotted the group of five moving across the car park. He made the camera zoom in on Sarah Jane.

"Daddy, she's come back." Carl moaned.

"So what? She's an old woman with a funny lipstick. End of." Mr Blakeman snapped.

"My hunt!" the boy protested. "I want my hunt."

Mr Blakeman considered it for a few seconds. His son loved hunting and the woman was probably no danger. Yet the children had escaped him once before and he didn't want them to again. They were so close.

"I think an adult had better deal with them this time." he said and unzipped his forehead.

"They let us walk right in here." Clyde remarked as they scanned the empty tech block.

"Makes a nice change from breaking and entering." Penny smirked.

Luke put an end to their conversation with a sensible comment.

" It's a good thing too because we want to be in here. The secret room?" Sarah Jane said, addressing Luke.

Luke pointed down a corridor showing the way. Sarah Jane gasped as a massive Slitheen walked down the corridor towards them. It was Mr Blakeman, his voice made it clear when he talked.

"Oh, human children. The stench of Haribo and chicken nuggets."

"Humans are meant to taste like pork." Penny remarked. "Not chicken."

Sarah Jane cast her daughter a slightly annoyed look and then focused her attention in the alien once again.

"Get off this planet." Sarah Jane commanded.

"Hush now. It's time to hunt. The hunt is an instinct with us. The only way to keep our food safe in the days when the Baaraddelskelliumfatrexius beasts wandered the plains of Raxacoricofallapatorius." the Slitheen said.

Clyde pulled a confused face. Penny wondered how new everything must feel to him. His whole world had changed in the process of a day. People had snapped after much less.

"They're sort of like giant squirrels. We killed them all centuries ago, but the hunting instinct remains." Mr Blakeman said, leaping towards the closest child which was Luke.

The boy leapt back just as Clyde, Penny and Maria raised the spray bottles at the Slitheen and began to spray thick mists of vinegar at it.

"Didn't like that, did you?" Clyde taunted as Mr Blakeman stumbled back from Luke.

"Vinegar." Penny laughed, taking the situation in her stride.

"Get back." Maria commanded.

Luke turned to Sarah Jane, knowing that the others would have to deal with Mr Blakeman. They were running out of time.

"Sarah Jane, this way."

"Penny?" Sarah Jane asked, wanting to make sure her daughter would be fine if she left.

"Go, mum. You do your bit, we'll do ours."

Sarah Jane and Luke disappeared down the corridor. Clyde, Penny and Maria continued to spray. Suddenly the nozzle on Clyde's spray bottle jammed. Penny and Maria looked at him and, as Penny moved to take Clyde's place, her vinegar was knocked onto the floor where it began to leak. Maria pulled both Clyde and Penny against the wall as Mr Blakeman lunged at them. He almost Clyde across the chest. The teenagers had no where to run and Maria was the only one of them who could use vinegar against Mr Blakeman. She wasn't sure if she could.

"Keep back." Maria ordered.

Mr Blakeman moved closer. He began to stroke one of his claws over Maria's cheek, taunting her. Her hands were shaking. She didn't want to use the vinegar against Mr Blakeman.

"You're afraid. A Slitheen girl your age would do it. Wouldn't think twice. But all the fight has gone out of you. You just stand there shaking in your shoes. That's why we survive. That's why you're losers. All of you on this rubbish planet. That's why we win." Mr Blakeman taunted.

Maria suddenly couldn't take it any more. She ripped the lid off the spray bottle and threw the contents over Mr Blakeman. He screeched in pain and every last drop of Maria's vinegar covered him. Clyde had the same idea and threw his vinegar at the head teacher. Suddenly the creature exploded. The trio were caked in green gunk. It dripped all over them. For a few seconds they stood there in silence and tried to work out what to do. Then they let laughter take the silence's place.

"Oh, great." Clyde said, examining his clothes.

"I did it. I exploded the Headmaster." Maria laughed.

"At least he can't exclude you for it." Penny joked and patted Maria on the back.

Mr Jeffrey and Carl suddenly felt a wave of pain rush over them. It wasn't a fiery pain; it was dull and over in a second but they realised what it meant. They scanned the CCTV and their eyes settled on Penny, Maria and Clyde standing over a pile of green gunk and trying to brush it off their clothes. "It's Glune. He's been vinegared." Mr Jeffrey whimpered, turning to the microphone Mr Blakeman had been talking into a few minutes before. "This is Kist Magg Thek Lutovin-Day Slitheen calling the Family. We are under attack. Glune Fex Fize is dead. Emergency Plan A. All operators here, now."

The rest of the family beamed in. They were wearing their skin suits and were from every race and country. They had stern expressions on their faces.

"They're here." Mr Jeffrey smiled.

Suddenly the door to the secret room was opened. The Slitheen family reacted like whiplash, grabbed the two intruders. Sarah Jane and Luke both began to struggle as they were dragged into the room.

"And so are our uninvited guests." Mr Jeffrey laughed. "Behold, the capacitor. We drain the energy into these and store it. In ten minutes this planet's atmosphere gets snatched away, but we'll be safe and warm in here."

He gestured all around the room with pride. Luke and Sarah Jane both struggled to take everything in even though Luke had seen it before. It was so vast and complex.

"And then a spacecraft picks us up and we sell everything we've collected." Janine taunted.

She was holding Sarah Jane. A Slitheen in a skin suit they had never seen before was holding Luke.

"Why are you doing this?" Sarah Jane tried; she needed to find a way of convincing them to stop.

"The Family came here once before, just a routine job, but they never came back." Janine explained.

"I think I might know what happened." Sarah Jane said, thinking of the Doctor and how his companion had mentioned Slitheen. "Who happened." she corrected herself.

"This planet will pay in blood! They were our family." Mr Jeffrey roared.

"You're threatening mine!" Sarah Jane spat.

Suddenly Sarah Jane wasn't so sure if Penny would be safe. She wished she hadn't left Penny and the others alone against that Slitheen.

"This will give us a new beginning. My son won't have to live like I've had to, cringing in the darkness." Mr Jeffrey said.

"And I want my children to live, to grow up. I want what's best for them."

It was clear the Slitheen were parents so Sarah Jane knew that the only way she was going to even possibly get through to them was to talk to them, one parent to another.

"Your stupid son gave us what we needed!" Mr Jeffrey laughed, looking at Luke.

Luke suddenly began to struggle harder.

"I didn't!" he shouted.

Mr Jeffrey looked at him confused. Luke continued.

"I thought I did, but I didn't. You made the mistake. When you showed me the diagram, you didn't tell me that you was going to steal power from the sun. It'll explode!"

Janine wasn't so sure, accusing Luke of bluffing. When Luke revealed that he didn't understand what a bluff was, Janine suddenly lost her confidence. "The boy might be right." she stammered.

Suddenly the machine began to explode. All the Slitheen leapt back and Sarah Jane tried to shield Luke. She couldn't get between her boy and the sparks so simply hoped none would hit him.

"It's happening. Turn it off!" Sarah Jane tried.

Three new faces entered the room: Maria, Clyde and Penny. They had their spray bottles raised and pointed them towards the Slitheen hold Luke and Sarah Jane.

"You heard her, turn it off. There's vinegar in this." Clyde said.

Janine smiled and pushed Sarah Jane into the hands of another Slitheen. She grabbed Clyde and restrained him.

"Water." she spat and turned to Luke. "That's a bluff."

Soon the girls were both being held by Slitheen.

"I knew it wouldn't work." Maria grumbled.

Penny shrugged and told her it was worth a shot. Annoyed at the childish interruption, Mr Jeffrey turned to Luke.

"If I reset the system, you can cancel the overload, make it safe?" he asked.

Luke nodded. He seemed nervous at first and then became sure.

"Right." Mr Jeffrey nodded and turned to Carl. "Son, reset the system."

The boy pulled on a lever. Penny watched the screen as the power went up. She wanted to be sure that the Slitheens weren't tricking them. She nodded at her brother when the lights went on over CCTV.

"It's reset. The system's off. Now I just have to synchronise the mega-wattage." Luke said and then looked at everyone. "Now!"

The humans freed themselves and put distance between them and the Slitheen. The Slitheens began to cry out in their confusion. The Slitheen thrashed around for the humans but only succeed in separating Luke from the others.

"MUM!" Luke cried instinctively because calling Sarah Jane mum just seemed right.

"Luke!" Sarah Jane called back, throwing her sonic lipstick to the boy.

Mr Jeffrey realised that suddenly the humans had become a great threat. He began to hunt down Luke.

"Get him!" he called.

Luke raced through the machinery, using the sonic on anything he was close to. He managed to cut several wires but didn't stop because the Slitheen were getting close.

"It's going to blow up!" Janine shouted.

"Out, now!" Sarah Jane ordered as Luke and the others ran up to her.

They moved out of the room and left the Slitheen inside.

Jeffrey and Carl were trying to get out when the door shut on them. Sarah Jane and the others stared at them. Penny moved between the Slitheen and her brother because Luke had destroyed their machine.

"You can't leave us in here. Use your sonic device, open the door. Open the door!" Mr Jeffrey shouted.

"I'm only twelve." Carl begged.

Sarah Jane looked at Penny. She remembered when her daughter had been twelve and the child's innocence. It was heart breaking. She got her sonic back off Luke and was about to open the door.

"You can't let them out." Clyde protested.

"They don't deserve to die." Penny murmured.

Suddenly there was a blaze and the two Slitheen were gone. The door closed on them. Silence overwhelmed the group and then the lights flickered on. Penny patted her mother on the shoulder and began to lead her away from the door.

"Oh, look, the lights are coming back on." Maria remarked with a smile.

"The machine burnt itself out." Luke replied as he turned away and began to walk down the corridor with Maria.

Clyde was left standing there, staring at the door. Suddenly Penny appeared by his shoulder.

"It was either them or us, right?" Clyde murmured.

Penny nodded sadly and Clyde followed her down the corridor.

They were all in the lounge of Sarah Jane's house. Penny had made them all drinks and they were all relaxing. Sarah Jane was on the phone while the teenagers talked through what they had just experienced.

"Some of the Slitheen out away." Clyde said. "I saw them vanish."

"Good for them." Penny said.

"The machine is useless now." Luke added, sitting on the sofa. "We broke the chain."

"Except there's buildings round the world with secret rooms and all that alien machinery inside." Maria pointed out.

Sarah Jane finished with her phone call and took a drink from Penny.

"Did you give my love to the Brig?" Penny asked.

"As always. But he's expecting a report on the whole situation." Sarah Jane said. "UNIT are going to sort out the machine.

"What's UNIT? A furniture shop?" Clyde asked.

There was a knock on the door and Luke went to go and get it.

"UNIT are Penny's bosses." Maria said with a smirk.

"They aren't my bosses." Penny said. "More like baby sitters."

Then Luke came in with Chrissie and Alan. He winced as if to apologise for letting them in. Penny smiled slightly. Chrissie ran right up to Maria and put her hands on her daughter's cheeks.

"Where were you? Come here. Oh where've you been?" Chrissie asked.

"We just went up town, grabbed some burgers." Maria lied with a smile.

Chrissie continued to ramble and Penny and Luke quickly excused themselves from the situation – although it was more like Penny excusing herself and dragging Luke upstairs with her. Then Chrissie turned to Sarah Jane.

"Oh, Sally Anne, bless you for looking after my Maria. My head was full of terrible things that could have happened."

Alan let Chrissie leave the room and put his arm around Maria, joking about her being a useless liar. They all knew he wouldn't push it any further than that. The Jacksons left, leaving Sarah Jane and Clyde both standing in the lounge alone.

"Penny makes a nice cuppa, doesn't she?"

"Yeah." Clyde said in a dreamy tone. "Never thought she would ever be doing something like this."

"I never thought I would ever be doing something like this either." Sarah Jane countered, reminiscing.

"But you never told me. How did you discover all this stuff, aliens and things?" Clyde prompted.

Sarah Jane smiled and took a seat on the arm of the arm chair. She looked straight at Clyde and clasped her cup of tea with a smile.

"I met this man, called the Doctor. He was an alien, too." she began.

"Like a big green thing?" Clyde exclaimed.

"No." Sarah Jane laughed, struggling to imagine the Doctor as a Slitheen. "He looked just like you and me, except he was nothing like you and me. He took me out into space far away from Earth."

"You travelled in space?"

"And time. I saw planets and galaxies and all sorts of creatures, things you would never imagine." Sarah Jane managed.

"This Doctor sounds cool. Is he Penny's, you know?"

Sarah Jane looked confused. Clyde frowned. The subject was awkward to talk about. The woman silently prompted for more.

"Dad?" Clyde finished.

Laughter filled the air. Sarah Jane shook her head with an amused smile on her lips.

"Oh no. No. Penny's dad was human. He was an amazing man. He taught me that I didn't have to stop what I was doing just because I couldn't go with the Doctor any more. We were going to start a family together. Never stop what we did but... I suppose I carried on because of him. Him and the Doctor."

"And he was killed by an alien?" Clyde pressed.

He didn't want to press too deeply but he knew he had to get everything straight in his head.

"Yes. Two weeks before Penny was born. We were due to get married long before then but we put it on hold for Penny's birth and then... Life's precious, Clyde. Remember that. And keep asking questions because that'll get you answers."

"Sarah Jane! Penny's got a call from a man called Captain Jack Harkness." Luke called down. "He says he wants to talk to us as well."

"He's gone back to calling you Sarah Jane?" Clyde exclaimed. "It should be mum."

"Do you think?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Yeah. Tell him."

"I don't know how." Sarah Jane whimpered.

Sarah Jane and her children had left the room for just a few seconds to read a set of figures from a book to Jack. They had left Clyde in the attic alone. He turned to Mr Smith and raised an eyebrow. He began to press buttons, trying to work out how the computer worked.

"Diagnostic checks completed. All systems are functioning normally." Mr Smith announced.

"Where are you from?" Clyde asked.

"All systems are functioning normally." Mr Smith repeated.

Clyde continued to press random buttons. Suddenly Mr Smith electrocuted him. Clyde pulled back in shock.

"Beware your curiosity, boy." the computer warned.

Clyde considered running to one of the others and telling them but it would only get him into trouble anyway. He moved away from the computer when he heard voices and laughter coming up the stairs.

"Freak weather conditions?" Maria suggested, entering the attic.

"Bubble Shock chemicals altering the atmosphere's visibility levels and the levels of energy conversion?" Penny laughed, pointing straight at Luke to show it was his turn.

"Temporary reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles?" Luke tried.

Sarah Jane nodded approvingly and told Mr Smith to start the rumour about what had happened. Clyde looked at them all confused.

"I can't believe we can't tell anyone." Clyde said. "We should get millions for what we did today."

"If we told people what we did then none of us would be able to live normal lives." Penny pointed. "And your mum would be in danger.

"I would be able to protect her. I worked out the vinegar. If it always this easy then..."

"Easy." Maria scoffed. "You know what, you better go to the bus stop."

"Maybe his head will have deflated by tomorrow." Penny laughed.

Clyde turned to leave and then turned back. He smiled at the Smiths.

"You were right. This is great. Weird, but great. And you lot need me. I can't believe you were going to save those Slitheen. They tried to destroy the entire planet. Billions of people. What was the big dilemma?" Clyde smiled.

"Bus stop." Penny said, pointing towards the door.

Clyde suddenly clamped his hands on Luke's shoulders.

"You were good. And if anyone says you're not cool, I'll set them right." Clyde assured Luke, shaking hands with him and patting him on the back.

Clyde and Maria left and Penny and Sarah Jane turned to Luke.

"Clyde's right. You were amazing." "Again." Penny pointed out.

"I nearly destroyed everything." Luke moaned. "I messed up."

Sarah Jane shook her head.

"I messed up. New block, the strangeness of it? Of all people, I should have seen it. Instead, oh, I sent you two and Maria right in there and that was nearly the end of both of you." Sarah Jane smiled.

"We're still here, mum." Luke reminded her.

"And we always will be." Penny smiled.


	5. Pool side

"Come on, Luke, it's fine!" Clyde called.

"You're great at everything else, bro." Penny laughed.

"Just jump, Luke." Maria smiled.

Luke gingerly dipped his foot into the water. The three other teenagers were the only ones in the pool. Penny and Sarah Jane had used their UNIT sway to have the pool closed so Luke could learn to swim without fear of his belly button, or lack of it, giving him away. The pool they had chosen was high tech. The pool was heated. The place was temperature controlled; the windows would open if it got too hot and the blinds would open up if needs be. Everything was automated. Sarah Jane was standing by the side, watching Luke with a compassionate smile on her face. She was trying to tell him everything would be alright.

Penny had taken to water like a fish. She had only needed a few UNIT swimming lessons before she could swim well and had become a very strong swimmer. Luke was a fast learner but he would only be able to swim if he tried. Luke wouldn't be able learn to swim with other children so it was up to the three teenagers to teach him.

"Luke, there's a Bane behind you!" Penny screamed, pushing herself backwards through the water.

Luke leapt into the water in a shot. Clyde and Maria turned to Penny and paused. Then the teenagers laughed. Sarah Jane looked at them.

"That was a cruel trick, Penny."

"Got him into the water, didn't it?" Penny replied to her mother. "Clyde, race you to the other side of the pool."

Penny pushed off and Clyde followed her. They disappeared through the water and towards the other end. Luke watched them go.

"By the end of the today, you should be able to do that." Maria remarked to Luke.

The boy was still watching his sister and friend swam the length of the pool.

"Okay, Luke, grab the side and start kicking as hard as you can." Maria instructed. "Get your legs up."

Sarah Jane watched as Penny, Clyde and Maria swum up and down, demonstrating how to swim. Luke was watching them intensely. Suddenly a young man walked in. He was dressed in a lifeguard's uniform. He looked into the water and Penny stopped swimming to check that Luke's missing belly button would not give him away. It was thankfully below the water line. She smiled. "Hello. Um, this is a government training session. My ID is..." Penny trailed off. "Our instructor has her ID."

Sarah Jane produced her UNIT card. It was rather old but no one out side of UNIT would be able to tell that it had expired years ago.

"Okay, would you like me to give you a few lessons?" the young man asked.

"What is your name?" Sarah Jane asked.

"My name is Conner Newman, Miss Smith." the lifeguard said.

He had black hair and dark brown eyes. He looked very handsome. He smiled at the children.

"Mr Newman, my trainees are doing training work. Their identities are secret so I would prefer it if you left." Sarah Jane snapped.

Conner looked at the children and then let his eyes settle on Penny and Luke. Penny moved between the lifeguard and her brother just in case he was going to notice the difference Luke had. Sarah Jane took Conner's shoulder and steered him away from the children.

"Bro, go on, swim." Penny said.

Luke looked at her shell shocked. He had never swum. He had only watched the others and kicked his legs up and down like Maria had suggested. Clyde looked at Luke and then frowned.

"Maybe we should book the pool for a few more days." Penny said, swimming to the side and climbing onto it.

She sat down and looked up at her mother who was returning.

"This would work so much better is Luke just tried it." Penny remarked. "I know he's worried about messing up but..."

"I'll call the Brig. I'm sure he'll let us use the pool for a bit longer. Maybe we should make sure that there are no lifeguards." Clyde swum over and climbed up onto the side. He sat next to Penny.

"I thought you told us that there would be no one else here." Clyde pointed out.

Sarah Jane nodded as if remembering what she had instructed to the UNIT group. Maria walked over with Luke. He still refused to swim. "Okay, you lot, get changed. I'll meet you outside."

Penny smiled at Maria.

"You're a good swimmer." Penny told Maria.

"You're not too bad either." Maria replied.

They were drying their hair, Penny using a towel, Maria a low powered hair drier.

"Penny, does Luke fancy anyone?" Maria asked after a few seconds of silence.

Penny was surprised by the question. She had realised that Maria had had a thing for Luke since the Bubble Shock incident but had thought that Maria would take a little longer to be considering asking Luke out.

"Maria, Luke doesn't understand what fancying someone is. I don't think he fancies someone yet." Penny laughed.

"Of course not." Maria remarked, happily.

Penny watched her for a few seconds.

"So do you fancy... Um... Anyone?" Penny asked.

Maria looked Penny straight in the eyes.

"I know you fancy someone." Maria replied.

Penny felt her cheeks redden. She should have known that Maria would be the first to work out her little secret. Luke certainly wouldn't, nor would her mum, and Clyde hadn't been there long enough to notice the change in Penny. Maria had. Penny dressed a little differently, not exactly more feminine but definitely in clothes that made it easier for her to show off her gymnastic grace. Penny skateboarded everywhere now, or ran doing tricks. It was all to show off to someone Penny was desperate to impress.

"And I think I know who." Maria continued.

"Well, I know that you fancy Luke." Penny smirked.

"How did you know?" Maria asked.

"It was obvious."

Penny looked at her watch that she had replaced on her wrist. Maria had often found herself wondering if Penny's watch was like her mothers but there had been nothing to prove it.

"We better not keep mum and the boys waiting." Penny said.

Then she face-palmed. She looked at Maria and told her that she had forgotten her jacket.

"I'll catch up." Penny assured her.

"Okay." Maria said and left the changing rooms.

Penny searched around and found her jacket. She was pulling it on as she left the changing rooms. That was when she walked straight into a handsome boy her age with blonde hair. He smiled at her and Penny tried to edge past him. She was flirted with enough at school.

"I'm kinda in a hurry." Penny told him.

"And where are you hurrying to?" he asked.

"My superior. I was here training. The pools are closed to the public today."

"My older brother brought me in to help him."

Penny pieced everything together in her head.

"So you must be Newman's younger brother. The pools will be closed off tomorrow so..."

Penny turned away but secretly glanced into the mirrored door up ahead to check the boy was gone. She was going down the corridor when a hand was clamped over her mouth and she felt two sharp pains in her neck.

Sarah Jane glanced down at her watch. Maria had come out ages ago and Penny was still nowhere to be seen. It was that Sarah Jane was beginning to worry but Penny was a capable girl who should have been out by then. She looked at Clyde, Luke and Maria.

"I think we should go and look for Penny." Sarah Jane said. "Okay." Luke nodded.

"Got it." Clyde said.

"Maria, show me where Penny was, Clyde and Luke, search the rest of the pool."

Clyde and Luke were scanning the corridors in search of Penny. Clyde was sure Penny wouldn't have fallen into the pool and found herself in trouble because she was a great swimmer. Luke was a bit more nervous.

"Why don't you like water" Clyde asked, sounding slightly distracted.

"Because, normally, I can make mistakes and they won't lead to my death but if I can't swim and I don't understand how like I don't understand how to be 'cool' then I could die."

"Luke you just need to try. Me, Penny and Maria would never let anything happen to you." Clyde assured him.

Sometimes he forgot how young Luke really was. The boy had not really experienced the world but it was easy to believe he had. Penny and Maria had more experience but they both seemed rather unsure about how to explain why they did normal things to Luke.

"But something might happen to Penny if we don't find her soon." Clyde muttered and hurried round the corner.

He stopped. Someone was standing over Penny. She was lying on the floor of the corridor.

"Oi, leave her alone!" Clyde shouted without a thought for his own safety.

He and Luke hurried forwards to Penny's side, frightening the figure away. Clyde continued to run after the figure but Luke stopped and knelt beside Penny. He cautiously began to check her over.

"She looks like she's suffering from blood loss. Slight but she's been panicked too." As he said this, Luke rolled Penny over a bit. "What are those?" he asked.

He was pointing to Penny's neck where there were two specks of blood. Clyde stopped chasing the figure and knelt beside Luke. He didn't like what he saw.

"Luke, do you believe in vampires?" Clyde murmured.

Sarah Jane had been called by Luke. He had said something about vampires and Penny being unconscious. Sarah Jane had turned up as Penny came round. Luke had helped the teenager sit up and let his mother examine the bite on Penny's neck.

"What happened?" Maria asked the boys.

"There was this boy standing over Penny and she was unconscious. I don't know what he did or whatever but..." Clyde said.

"We think he was a vampire." Luke told his mum.

Sarah Jane didn't believe in vampires. She knew Penny didn't believe in them either.

"It was Newman's brother." Penny murmured.

"What?" Sarah Jane exclaimed.

She didn't have time for vampires or lifeguards. Someone had just attacked her daughter and, with what they did as a hobby, there was a high possibility that it was an alien attack. She tried to create a list of all bloodsucking aliens.

"I was talking to him and he told me he was Newman's brother and then I went to leave and I felt something in my neck. I struggled but I... Vampires aren't real."

"Maybe we should go and talk to Mr Newman, maybe his brother can tell us what happened." Maria told the others.

Sarah Jane nodded. She helped Penny to her feet and the went off to find the lifeguard.

"Mr Newman?" Sarah Jane called, walking into the lifeguard's office.

She looked around. She had told Penny and the others to wait outside because she didn't want Penny to get attacked again if it was the fault of the lifeguard or his brother.

"Hello. I thought you would have left." Conner said.

"Mr Newman, my daughter was attacked a few minutes ago." Sarah Jane said slowly.

She moved round and looked straight at Conner. He smiled, carefully.

"Would you like me to get the medical kit?" the lifeguard asked, concerned.

Sarah Jane shook her head and explained that it wasn't fatal. It wasn't going to do any lasting damage if it went untreated.

"She claims your brother attacked her."

Conner looked up at Sarah Jane with a frown. His eyes were fixed on Sarah Jane and she could tell he didn't really understand what was going on.

"That's a great theory but I don't have a brother." Conner admitted, slowly.

Sarah Jane lead Penny upstairs. Luke had insisted in helping his sister up the stairs. Mr Smith needed to scan her. Clyde and Maria followed them up the stairs, concerned.

"What are we meant to do since Newman doesn't have a brother? I mean, who attacked Penny?" Maria asked as she went up the stairs.

"Mr Smith, I need you." Sarah Jane called. "Scan Penny."

"Immediately." Mr Smith said, a line of thin red lasers going out towards Penny.

They danced up and down her.

"So, lets take a vote, who thinks Penny has been bitten by a vampire?" Clyde asked, putting up his hand.

Luke raised his and then Penny shook her head. They had come up with a way to communicate between each other so Penny could correct him silently. She would cough or shake her head or point downwards to tell Luke to stop so he could act normally. "Who believes it's aliens?" Maria asked.

Penny and Maria both raised their hands. Luke watched Penny and then put his hand up. Sarah Jane didn't.

"What do you think it is then, Mum?" Penny asked.

"I think that we should wait until Mr Smith has completed the scans before we starting making assumptions."

The teenagers all nodded. Penny put her hand to her neck, caressing the neat spots.

"I have completed the scans." Mr Smith announced suddenly.

Sarah Jane nodded and looked at the compluter.

"And?" she prompted.

"Penny will suffer no lasting effects from the bite marks on her neck."

"Well that's good." Clyde remarked.

Maria shook her head and turned to Mr Smith, asking about short term effects.

"Penny's blood has been temporarily contaminated with an alien's."

"Which?" Luke asked.

"Insufficient data."

"Okay." Sarah Jane nodded slowly. "Give me a list of possibilities."

Mr Smith went silent to compile the list. Maria smiled and reminded everyone she had been right.

"What sort of alien hangs around a swimming pool?" Clyde questioned.

"What sort of vampire hangs around a swimming pool?" Penny countered with a smirk.

"An amphibious one." Luke suggested.

When Mr Smith announced he had twenty possibilities, Sarah Jane told him to take amphibious tenancies into the equation. In the end he came up with just one.

"Saturnyns." Mr Smith began. "Saturnyns are an alien race from the planet of Saturnyne that was destroyed. They are amphibious creatures and can convert others to their race by infecting them with their blood. Their amphibious nature means they have to take part in constant hydration."

"Like they were trying to do with Penny." Maria pieced together.

"They need to hide from the sunlight. They generally use perception filters to manipulate brain waves so they can hide. They have no reflections as the brain gets confused when seeing them in a mirror."

"That's why I couldn't see the boy in the mirror." Penny replied.

"Okay, we need to go back." Sarah Jane said. "If that creature wants to convert people then..."

"Anyone who goes into the pool could be in danger." Luke pointed out.

They returned to the pool. They expected the creature to be there but they only found Newman. He was in his office and Sarah Jane decided that she would need to talk to him again. She turned to Maria and Penny.

"You two, go off and look for the boy. Penny, take my sonic and check every bit of this building."

Sarah Jane didn't like the idea of Penny being left to fight the Saturnyns but she was the only person who could identify the boy.

"Okay, what will you, Clyde and Luke be doing?"

"We'll be seeing if Mr Newman is really what he says he is."

"Give him a good scan for me, Mum." Penny joked and wondered off with Maria.

Sarah Jane turned to Luke and Clyde. She smiled and lead the two boys into the office.

"Hello, Mr Newman." Sarah Jane said, with a smile.

"Hello." Conner replied.

"I'm here to talk about Penny."

Conner was eyeing Luke and Clyde suspiciously.

"You haven't got a belly button." he pointed out, looking at Luke. "When you were in the pool before, I saw you and you don't have a belly button."

"I assure you he does." Sarah Jane snapped.

"What sort of person doesn't have a belly button?" Clyde asked.

Luke noted Sarah Jane was looking at her watch.

"You're the alien busting government group."

"What did you just say?" Luke asked.

Conner repeated what he had said slowly, as if thinking Luke hadn't understood it. Luke knew what the man had said, he just wanted to be sure he was right before he did something really clever.

"But none of us ever explained what UNIT was and it's top secret." Luke said, simply. "You wouldn't know about UNIT unless you..."

"Happened to have come into contact with them in the past." Sarah Jane finished, snapping her watch shut. "Which you probably have done since you are an alien – Saturnyn."

"Very clever, Miss Smith. How long until the girl becomes one of us?"

"She won't." Sarah Jane stated. "Your son didn't have long enough with her to secure her change."

"His son?" Clyde exclaimed.

"Yes. The perception filter makes him look too young to be a father." Sarah Jane pointed out.

"You're really impressive, Miss Smith." Conner said. "I wonder how impressive you will be as a Saturnyn."

Maria watched as Penny soniced the lock on one of the doors with skill. It was clear she had used the sonic before.

"So... You're not turning into an alien." Maria remarked.

"Yeah, that's good." Penny muttered. "Saturnyns don't like sunlight. Our little friend is going to be hiding in somewhere dark."

"Somewhere damp too."

"Like mould." Penny smiled, turning back to Maria.

"Like mould." Maria agreed with a giggle.

Penny ducked her head into the room and looked around. She frowned.

"Nothing." Penny said.

"Are you sure?" Maria asked.

Penny looked over to Maria and shook her head silently, telling Maria that it wasn't clear. Maria nodded and they moved slowly backwards.

"Maria, when I say run, run through that door." Penny whispered, pointing towards the door at the end of the corridor.

The door was the closest to the two girls. The boy walked out and looked at Penny and Maria. Maria thought the boy looked very normal until he opened his mouth. A row of large sharp teeth faced them.

"Penny, is it time?"

"No, not yet." She paused. "What is your name?"

"My human name is Jacob."

"That's a lovely name." Penny said. "My name is Penny. This is Maria. Why did you attack me?"

"Because my species is going to die out unless I can convert a girl into our species." Jacob said. "And I have two prime specimens in front of me."

"Penny?"

"Yeah?" Penny whispered.

"Now?"

Jacob leapt towards Penny and Maria. An instinct caused Penny to drive her hand into the stomach of Jacob. He doubled over and held his stomach.

"Now!" Penny clarified.

Her and Maria raced towards the doors. When they got through, they looked around.

"Oh man!" Penny breathed.

Sarah Jane leapt back and Clyde and Luke leapt in the way.

"Leave her alone!" Clyde shouted.

In the end, Conner threw back Clyde and Luke. They knocked into Sarah Jane and they were all sent flying backwards. When they all stood up, Conner had raced from the room. Sarah Jane checked both boys, checking their necks. She wasn't sure how she was meant to explain to Clyde's mother if she brought him home as a vampire. Luke would be easier to explain if he became a Saturnyn but even then it would be tricky. Then Clyde looked around.

"Where's Newman?"

"He's gone. Luke, call your sister. We need to warn her and Maria." Sarah Jane called, running out of the room.

Maria and Penny had dived behind the door to an open cupboard.

"What were those teeth? Why could we see them but not his alien form?" Maria hissed.

"Probably some self-defence mechanism. Our brains are scrambled by seeing them but, when they sense danger, our brains show us the teeth." Penny answered.

Then the boy raced in. He stopped and began to scan the room for the two girls. Penny motioned for Maria to stay silent as she darted out and hid behind a seat. It was a seat that someone watching the swimming would sit at. The boy continued to look around the room. Maria realised that she was better hidden than Penny. She didn't like what her friend was doing. Suddenly, Penny soniced upwards, towards the ceiling. Maria watched.

'Low setting' Penny whispered, as she clamped her hands around the sonic to stop it from making too much noise.

"I know you're here." the Saturnyn boy said. "I just need one of you. You can take a vote, fight it out if you want. I just need one."

"You aren't getting either of us!" Penny called, continuing to work.

"Is that true, Penny?"

It was a new voice. Penny and Maria recognised it. It was Conner Newman. He was a Saturnyn too.

"They're refusing to come out, father." Jacob whimpered.

Suddenly Penny stood up. She was still pointing the sonic up into the sky. She was looking up at the ceiling. Maria gasped. It was clear Penny had needed to get closer to whatever was she sonicing but it had also meant the Saturnyn could see her.

"Come on." Penny growled through gritted teeth as the Saturnyns moved towards her.

When Conner hit into her, the sonic was knocked from her hand. Penny collided with the floor and Maria wasn't sure if the blow had knocked her friend out. At the least, Penny was dazed. Maria rushed out, only to be met with the boy smiling cruelly down at her, his sharp teeth showing.

It was Clyde who reached the pool first. Luke wasn't far behind and Sarah Jane was following him. They came to a stop at the entrance to the main room and gasped at what was going on. Penny was being held by her neck over the deep end of the swimming pool while Maria was struggling in the boy's grip.

"Let them go!" Luke ordered.

Sarah Jane walked forwards. She could see her sonic and was trying to work out what Penny had been attempting to do with it. The realisation hit her very quickly. She knew she could pull of Penny's plan if she could reach the sonic. She knew, however, that if she went for her sonic, the Saturnyns would attack the girls. "I did warn them that we only needed one." Conner spat, his sharp teeth grinding against each other.

Penny was hanging onto consciousness but it was clear she had some sort of concussion. She certainly couldn't be able to swim if Conner dropped her into the pool.

"Now you lot stay back or I'll let this one drown."

Clyde looked at Luke. The archetype was looking terrified. He was staring down into the water. Luke couldn't swim. There was little he could do to save his sister. Sarah Jane was edging round the pool, walking towards the sonic. The two boys were standing in the doorway, staring out over the water. Maria had her eyes fixed on Sarah Jane, hoping that the woman knew what she was doing. Conner had noticed it and didn't like the idea of a plan forming between the two.

Luke and Clyde stood there helpless. Clyde was the only one of them who could swim to the other side and rescue Penny if she was thrown in but he needed a distraction. Luke was too scared of the water. He knew deep down that there was nothing he could do and he hated it. It was even worse than the feeling of guilt he had felt when he realised what he had told the Slitheen.

"What a pity." he murmured and dropped Penny into the pool.

The girl disappeared under the water in a second. Sarah Jane cried out and then there was a splash. Everyone, including the Saturnyns, turned to look at Luke who had leapt into the pool. He was in the shallow end but his panicked splashes could have made it look like he couldn't stand in the water. Finally Luke stopped his panicking. He stood up in the water. His hair was dripping wet in front of his eyes but everyone could see the hopelessness in them. Then the hopelessness faded. Half way across the pool, Clyde was swimming towards Luke. He was moving slowly, helping Penny along but it was clear that the girl was out of danger. The two Saturnyns were angry.

"We still have one." the Saturnyn father said.

"You're right but the one you don't have was doing something when you found her. Can you tell me what that was?" Sarah Jane asked.

"She was pointing a device upwards." the Saturnyns answered.

"She was turning up the temperature so the blinds would open and the sunlight would come in." Sarah Jane explained happily.

She produced her sonic lipstick that she had retrieved while Luke had been splashing about and aimed it upwards. There were a few sparks and suddenly the room got very hot. The blinds slowly began to roll upwards. Sunlight danced across the room and everyone was bathed in it. The two Saturnyns screamed in pain. They pushed Maria away as they tried to escape the increasing wall of light.

"Run!" one of them bellowed.

"It burns!" the other screamed.

"I am so sorry." Sarah Jane whimpered.

They the two Saturnyns exploded in clouds of dust. Sarah Jane helped Luke from the pool and, while he helped Maria to her feet, she got Clyde and Penny out.

"Lets get home." Maria said. "I think we've had enough swimming after all that."

Luke quickly agreed and Penny, once her head had cleared, nodded.

Once they were back at 13 Bannerman road, the children relaxed. Penny, Luke and Clyde had towels draped over their shoulders and were sitting in the attic.

"So the Saturnyns didn't have any girlfriends," Clyde concluded, "so they decided to attack human girls. They turned them into Saturnyns and then continued the race."

"Penny would make a good alien." Luke remarked.

"You _make_ a good alien." Penny replied with a smirk.

She looked at the others with a grin. Sarah Jane told Penny not to joke about things like that but it wasn't much of a telling off. The woman seemed distracted, not completely focused on the children who were mucking around.

"Just remember that we still have a planet. They lost their home. They were only here looking for a life." Sarah Jane said.

"They were looking to hurt Penny and Maria." Clyde reminded her.

"Plenty of aliens live on this planet peacefully." Penny argued. "Just being different doesn't give them the right to attack us all."

"But you have to feel sorry for them." Sarah Jane said.

"I know. I'm sorry." Penny muttered. "We'll just have to teach Luke to swim later."


	6. Eye of the Gorgon part 1

**Yo, everyone it's me, Yay13. Firstly, I would like to say that I don't own the Sarah Jane Adventures which is sad. Secondly I would like to say that I'm sorry is there are mistakes and thirdly I would like to say that if there is a Doctor Who alien you would like to be put into this Fanfic then please PM about it. **

**Enjoy and please review. I like reviews.**

* * *

Eye of the Gorgon!

It was simply the sound of an owl's call that woke Mrs Randall. Normally the elderly woman would have drifted right back to sleep but she sensed someone in the room – someone who wasn't meant to be there.

"Hello, who's there?" she called into the darkness.

There was no reply but Mrs Randall's eyes settled on the woman in front of her. The woman was dressed in black, a piece of cloth covering her hair.

"The nun!" Mrs Randall gasped. "Help me! She's here!"

In her panic, Mrs Randall fumbled for the light switch. The nun kept staring at her, not moving closer. The elderly woman turned so she could find the switch of her lamp and flicked it on. A soft light spilled into the room and the nun was gone. Mrs Randall clutched her covers to her chin and kept whispering about the nun.

Penny scanned Clyde's lounge. She hadn't really been in Clyde's house before and she kinda liked the feel of it. Carla, Clyde's mum, was watching Penny with a smile. Clyde was upstairs getting ready. They were going to Lavender Lawns, a retirement home. A friend of Clyde's nan had seen a ghost or something like that and the group wanted to check it out.

"You're the first girl he's ever had round." Carla teased from the kitchen. "Bet he's embarrassed."

Penny couldn't see any reason Clyde would be embarrassed. His home was normal. There was normal furniture and family pictures on the walls. Joining the family pictures were a few bits of brilliant art work, generally pencil sketches. Penny noticed similar sketches on the table. Carla smiled as she walked in and handed Penny a coffee.

"I think that brother of yours is being a great influence on Clyde. He's reading more, saying that you never know when you might need to know something. He's also drawing a lot more." Carla pointed out, noticing that Penny's eyes had settled on the piles of paper that each had a drawing on.

Penny leant over and picked up a few of the drawings, eyeing them with a gentle smile.

"That's his hobby." Carla explained. "He doesn't think it's cool but he's..." "He does these? These are really good." Penny murmured, keeping her eye on them.

"I don't know where he gets his inspiration." Carla told Penny.

Penny knew. There were drawings of Slitheen and Mr Smith and Saturnyns. There were also scenes from their adventures: Penny and Maria running, Maria throwing vinegar at the head teacher, Sarah Jane using her sonic.

"And that girl, she's in nearly everyone." Carla said, pointing out a pretty girl that looked familiar to both of them.

"That's me." Penny smiled slightly.

Carla laughed and beamed with pride. That was the moment Clyde walked in. He saw Penny looking through his drawings and gasped.

"Um, Penny, what are you doing?"

"Clyde, these are great." Penny told him. "I never knew you drew."

"And neither does anyone else so can you keep it a secret?"

"Like all the other secrets?" Penny smirked, tapping a drawing of one of the aliens.

Carla nodded and got up. She told the children that they had better go and Clyde quickly took Penny out of his house before she noticed anything else that went against his cool guy persona.

Clyde and Penny slid into Sarah Jane's car. They sat in the back, letting Luke sit in the front with Sarah Jane.

"You took your time." Sarah Jane said, looking in the mirror back at Penny and Clyde.

"So this ghost?" Luke prompted.

After the adventure with the 'vampires' Luke had asked a lot of questions about the supernatural. Penny and Sarah Jane had done their best to explain without forcing their opinions onto Luke but their stories of fighting mythical creatures normally ended in them turning out to be aliens. The only one that didn't turn out to be an alien was the unicorn which turned out to be a horse that aliens had turned into a unicorn.

"A nun." Penny revised. "A nun that the residents keep seeing in their rooms at night."

"My nan and Mrs Randall go way back. She used to live next door until her old fellow died. Nan says there's no way Mrs Randall sees things or makes things up."

"And the other residents are seeing it too, right?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, bro." Penny confirmed.

Sarah Jane started up the car and began to head towards the rest home.

"But it's always at night in their rooms." Clyde said attempting to make it sound mysterious.

Luke studied Mrs Randall's room with fascination. The room was mostly full of pictures but Luke had the feeling that each one had a story behind them like the tools Sarah Jane had. Mrs Randall was a nice looking elderly lady who had smiled when she had seen Clyde and kept implying that Clyde and Penny were going out, remarking about how pretty Penny was. Clyde was blushing due to it. Sarah Jane was asking questions, trying to direct Mrs Randall's attention onto the ghostly nun.

"Nora Connelly saw her first. She'd been to the loo. Oh, dreadful trouble she has with her waterworks. Three or four times every night. She comes out of the bathroom and there she is, the nun, by her chest of drawers." Mrs Randall said.

Luke shot Penny and Clyde his confused look and Penny nominated Clyde to explain 'waterworks' to Luke.

"And what happened?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Well, she fainted clean away like a schoolgirl. No constitution at all. Surprised, the amount of times she's been married. Since then, most of us have seen her. Them that's not too ga-ga not to notice, anyways."

Clyde heard the word 'ga-ga' and winced. Instead of explaining it to Luke, he steered the boy over to the window. Luke looked out over the grounds and saw an elderly woman looking up at him. He stared down at her. She looked as if she could recognise him and then it was gone. She looked away and didn't look back, leaving Luke feeling forgotten.

"Thanks for your help, Mrs Randall." Penny said.

"Will there be a photographer?" Mrs Randall asked, hopefully. "You wouldn't think it, but I was in all the papers once. Miss Ealing of wouldn't think it, but I was in all the papers once. Miss Ealing of 1951. Miss Smith, has your daughter every thought of entering that?" "No, she hasn't." Sarah Jane said. "Um... I'll have to speak to the manager about the photographer."

The group turned to leave, Sarah Jane resting her arm on Luke's shoulder as he walked to her side. Mrs Randall wasn't about to let Clyde go that easily.

"While you do that, I've got a few little jobs for Clyde to do. Your grandma said you wouldn't mind. Your girlfriend can stay too if she wants."

Penny smirked at Clyde and then denied being his girlfriend. However she did agree to stay. Sarah Jane informed the two children where to meet her and then left with Luke.

Alan Jackson was making a cake. He knew that when the cake was finished Maria would endeavour to mock his attempt but for the moment it looked delicious. Alan found himself unable to put off remarking the point to the empty kitchen. That was the moment that Chrissie walked in.

"It's his own stupid fault. If he hadn't been spending so much time in the flaming office, I wouldn't even have thought of going to salsa classes, would I?" Chrissie said, alerting Alan to her presence.

He turned and looked at her with wide eyes. She was standing in the kitchen with a bulging suitcase.

"Salsa?" Alan repeated because it was politer than the other things dancing through his head.

"Ivan gets the hump, gets all possessive, and the next thing I know, Carlos is on the ballroom floor with a bloody nose." Chrissie exclaimed.

"Carlos?"

"Salsa teacher." Chrissie explained.

"So Ivan's got the push, has he?" Alan said, trying to work out what was going on and had led to his ex-wife standing in his kitchen with suitcases.

Chrissie's reply was cut off as Maria entered the kitchen and saw her mum.

"Mum!" Maria called, going in for a hug.

Sarah Jane had told Luke to explore the grounds while she talked to the manager. He didn't mind it much but the grounds were very confusing and he didn't know anyone there. There was a elderly woman walking towards him. Luke recognised her as the woman from before. She was muttering under her breath to no one in particular.

"The Colonel won't believe us, darling. But who would? Better to keep mum. Sad. Better that way."

As the woman drew near to Luke, she stumbled. Luke caught her like Penny and Sarah Jane would do every time they saw someone stumble.

"Are you all right?" Luke asked, concerned.

The woman nodded and smiled but still looked very flustered.

"Yes, yes, yes. Quite all right, thank you. Are you one of the one of the Colonel's chaps?"

"The Colonel? No, I..." Luke began but was interrupted by the woman.

"I'm Bea Nelson-Stanley. I'm looking for my husband, the Professor. He said to meet him between the paws of the. Oh, what do you call it, the blessed thing? Er, the Sphinx."

Luke had heard of the Sphinx. Penny and Sarah Jane had both seen it. Sarah Jane had seen it in her travels with the Doctor and had taken Penny there when she had been very young. Penny couldn't really remember it but she had told Luke where to find it.

"That's in Egypt." Luke informed Bea.

Bea paused and looked straight at Luke, as if remembering him.

"You're the boy in the window." Bea told him.

Luke nodded.

"My name's Luke. We were visiting Mrs Randall. She says this place is haunted by a nun. Have you seen her?"

Bea was suddenly scared. She looked at Luke with terror in her eyes.

"Yes, I have. And she's no ghost. There's something different about you."

Luke took a step back. Everyone warned him about what could happen to him if he didn't keep him being different a secret. Sarah Jane had told him about wars over differences, Penny had told him about some of the stuff UNIT had done, Clyde and Maria had told him about bullies. Luke didn't want any other those things to happen to him.

"Oh, don't be afraid. It's all right, I've seen unusual people before. Perhaps you can help me."

Luke was nervous but slowly he followed Bea.

Sarah Jane handed over a business card, smiling at the manageress. The manageress was called Mrs Gribbins. She studied the card with a frown.

"I understand you're looking for a good story, Miss Smith. Might I suggest you try Westminster for something rather more newsworthy."

"You don't believe Lavender Lawns is haunted, then?"

"One of the old dears has a nightmare, she tells her friend she's seen a ghost, then next thing, what do you know? They've all seen one. It's hysteria, Miss Smith. It's as simple as that." Mrs Gribbins said with a cruel smile.

Sarah Jane didn't like it. She knew she could say something to take the smile away and found it with ease.

"Perhaps. Or maybe it's a cry for attention." she smirked, enjoying the flash of anger in the woman's eyes.

Luke wasn't sure where Bea was leading him but he wasn't about to turn tail and leave her. She seemed scared and this was probably something to do with the nun.

"We have to be quick." Bea said, going as fast as she could go along the slightly uneven path through the grounds. "Luke, in case anyone's watching."

"Who's watching?" Luke asked, glancing around.

He didn't know what he was meant to be looking for; a nun probably, but it wasn't night time and the nun was only seen at night.

"The..." Bea stumbled across her words as if trying to remember one. "For goodness sakes." she muttered when she couldn't think of it.

She handed Luke her walking stick as she took the final steps towards a large old tree. Luke was aware that they had headed out of the view from the main centre, nearly on the outskirts of the grounds. Bea produced a tin box and looked down at it with fear in her eyes.

"I knew they might find me one day, but I couldn't be parted from it. Foolish old woman." Bea murmured, clicking open the lid of the box.

Luke looked inside. There was a large gold necklace with a swirling pendant and a large central blue stone. It was amazing. Bea stroked it gently and the stone began to glow. It hinted to Luke that it was alien.

"What is it?" he asked in a whisper.

Bea looked at him as she if had already given too much away.

"Never you mind. Just promise me, you will not tell anyone you have the talisman. And whatever you do, do not let her get it. Do not let her get it." Bea begged, closing the tin box and forcing it into Luke's hands.

Luke asked who but Bea simply told him to put it away. He slipped it into his pocket and turned back to Bea.

"But who's after you?" Luke asked, beginning to feel worried for the woman.

"Do I know you?" Bea asked, suddenly seeming to have forgotten Luke and what they had just done.

Luke wasn't sure what to do. Everyone around him forgot stuff but never like Bea had just done. Surely she could remember him? Luke followed Bea back to the main house and, as he was approaching, cautiously glanced in his pocket. He produced the box for a few seconds, just to check it was safe and then slipped it away.

He didn't notice Mrs Gribbins staring at him through one of the windows.

_She's given it to the boy!_ the manageress thought with a frown.

Maria was doing her homework with a smile on her face. She loved it when her mum was round, even if her parents weren't always the closest people in the world. When she heard a knock on her bedroom door, she looked up and saw her mum entering with a smile.

"Anything I can help with?" Chrissie asked.

"You and Maths? I don't think so..."

Maria had been about to add that she would probably have to take it round to the Smiths' if she couldn't work it out. Luke was always prepared to help.

"At school the only figures I was interested in were fellows' phone numbers. Maybe we can do something together after you've finished? Go into town, do some more maths on my credit card?" Chrissie joked, holding up her credit card.

Maria smiled but shook her head.

"I'd like to, Mum, but I said I'd go over Sarah Jane's later. They're working on a story and..."

"Sarah Jane's?" Chrissie exclaimed. "Maria, come on. I'm your mum. What are you doing, always off gallivanting with those weirdos over the road for?"

"They're not weirdos!" Maria argued.

Luke and Penny got called weirdos enough at school and Maria wasn't going to stand for it. Right, Penny was becoming popular due to her joining sports teams and Luke was making friends but some people were just small minded. Maria had not expected small mindedness from her own mother.

"It's weird how much time you spend with her. And there's something about that boy. I really hope you don't fancy him. I don't know what it is, but he's not right."

That was the last straw. There was nothing wrong with Luke; he was just different. Maria had half a mind to tell her mum the truth and say she did fancy him.

"Well, you don't know anything about them!" Maria shouted.

Chrissie tried to calm her daughter down but everything she said, Maria could pick holes in.

"Get out! Get out!" Maria shouted, sending her mother fleeing from the room.

Sarah Jane was waiting by the car when she saw Clyde and Penny approaching. The two were smiling and joking around like they always did.

"Why is it old people want you to do everything for them? Turn the mattress over. Move things around on the top shelf. Take that spider out the bath. I came here looking for spooks, not jobs." Clyde asked as he came over.

"Everyone gets old, Clyde." Penny reminded him.

"It's okay for you, Mrs Randall had you sitting there drinking tea and talking about boys."

"Yes, the horror." Penny said, dramatically putting her hand against her forehead as if she was about to faint.

"You'll be old one day." Sarah Jane told Clyde.

He shook his head.

"Ah, no, not me. Way technology's moving, by the time I'm forty I can get my brain put in a robot and live for ever." Clyde said.

Sarah Jane shuddered. She and her daughter had had some pretty bad experiences with robots like that. When Penny had been seven, a group of Cybermen had attacked UNIT and began to upgrade agents, Penny had nearly been taken and almost deleted when Sarah Jane had come to rescue her. Penny could remember that so didn't mind when her mother, almost as a reflex, moved protectively towards her.

"No, you won't." Penny informed him. "I won't let you."

"Why?" Clyde asked.

"Because I don't want you around forever. Future generations will have enough to worry about without adding you to the mix."

Then Luke walked over. He smiled as Penny playfully punched Clyde's arm. Luke had one hand in his pocket, clutching the box. He considered showing it to the others but he had promised not to show anyone.

"Where have you been?" Sarah Jane asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Just looking around." Luke reported, climbing into the car.

Penny slid in beside him and smiled, asking him if he found anything interesting. Luke shook his head because he was sure that he would be able to lie to his sister with words.

"So what's the story, then. Is this place haunted, or what?" Clyde asked from where he was sitting next to Sarah Jane.

"I don't know." Sarah Jane informed him. "But there is something about this place I don't like."

She eyed Mrs Gribbins with a frown. The manageress' eyes were fixed on the two children in the back and, if Sarah Jane was anything, she was a very protective mother. Sarah Jane pulled out, wanting to get away from there as soon as possible. As they drove along, however, Luke was sure he saw a flash of black and white in the tree line, the black and white of a nun.

Maria heard another knock on her door. At first she thought it would be her mum, back for another attempt at calming her down but it wasn't. It was her dad.

"What's the problem?" he asked, knowing something was wrong.

"She doesn't like me seeing Sarah Jane and Luke. Like she knows anything about them."

"Don't worry, everything will be back to normal in a few days." Alan assured her.

Maria didn't want everything to go back to normal. She wanted her mum and dad to be back together and she made her feelings known.

"Maria, your mum and me, you know, that's all over."

"Well, that's great for you, isn't it. Some solicitor gives you a bit of paper and it's all over. But what good is that to me, Dad? She's always going to be my mum." Maria whimpered.

"I know that." Alan said.

"Well, maybe I want her to get to know my friends, so she doesn't think they're weird any more. And maybe I don't want her to go with Ivan, but that's never going to happen, because you've got a bit of paper!" Maria said and stormed out of her room.

Mrs Gribbins knocked on the door to St Agnes' Abby. The large wooden door was opened by a nun.

"I've come to see Sister Helena." Mrs Gribbins announced.

The nun nodded and lead the way in.

Sarah Jane walked into the attic and stood in the centre of the room. Clyde and Penny walked in behind her and stood round, Penny leaning against one of the columns in the room and Clyde standing near Sarah Jane. Luke came in last and sat down at the back of the room on one of the chairs.

"Mr Smith, I need you." Sarah Jane called.

"Yes, Sarah Jane." Mr Smith said.

Penny smiled at the computer.

"The Lavender Lawns Rest Home is apparently being haunted by a nun. I need you to access Central Land Registry database for me, and see if there's anything to historically support the possibility." Sarah Jane said.

"Of a haunting?" Mr Smith inquired.

"Just run the checks." Penny smirked, knowing that the computer was just as unbelieving of the idea of a haunting as her and her mum.

"Very well." the computer said.

"Doesn't Mr Smith believe in ghosts?" Clyde asked, moving forwards.

"Lets just say they tend to always turn out to be fakes." Sarah Jane said with a smile.

Or reporters trapped in a time loop and fruitlessly searching for the device that turns it off." Penny laughed. "That was just one time." Sarah Jane pointed out.

"But it was a good once."

When Clyde and Luke both shot Penny questioning looks, Penny told them she would explain later. Mr Smith interrupted their conversation by finishing his search.

"There is no record of any past ecclesiastical building on the site of Lavender Lawns." Mr Smith announced.

"So no obvious reason for the home to be haunted by a nun, then?" Sarah Jane concluded.

"I assume that by haunting you mean the projection of energies imprinted on psychic-assimilating matter."

"Obviously." Penny said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Come again?" Clyde asked, having no idea was most of that sentence meant.

He looked at Sarah Jane for an explanation but she passed that job onto Penny. Behind the group, unknown to them, Luke was getting out the necklace.

"Events get recorded on their surroundings, then, under certain circumstances, they get played back. Like a video player that is controlled by the weather." Penny said, glancing at Luke.

She noticed he was looking at something strange but there were lots of strange things in the attic and Luke loved to study them all. She thought nothing of it.

"Sarah Jane, are you aware that Luke has brought an unidentified element of alien technology into the attic." Mr Smith said.

Luke looked up horrified. He watched as everyone turned to him and knew he had no chance of hiding the talisman.

"Whoa, Luke! No way did that come off the Shopping Channel."

"He doesn't know what the Shopping Channel is." Penny told Clyde.

"Give it to me, Luke." Sarah Jane instructed like he was a toddler holding something dangerous, which in a way he was.

"One of the residents, Mrs Nelson-Stanley, gave it to me. I had to keep it a secret. Sorry, was that wrong?" Luke said, sounding worried.

He had never been in trouble with Sarah Jane before. He handed it over quickly.

"I don't know." Sarah Jane said, studying it. "Mr Smith, is it safe?"

As Sarah Jane approached the computer, it slid out a section for her to place the talisman on. While she did this, she glanced back at Luke who was being comforted by his sister and Clyde.

"Insufficient data. I'd like to carry out a detailed analysis." Mr Smith told Sarah Jane and began.

That was when Maria ran in and slammed the door. Sarah Jane turned to her and snapped out how she was going to damager the equipment. Then she noticed that there were tears in Maria's eyes and knew that she would need to talk to the girl. It became clear that Penny had picked up on them too because she glanced at her mum for guidance. "So, what's going on?" Maria asked.

"Some old biddy's given Luke an alien gizmo." Clyde said.

"And told him to keep it a secret." Penny added.

"She said the nun wasn't a ghost and now it's looking for the talisman." Luke finished.

Sarah Jane had just come up with her way of giving Maria space to talk.

"Well, I'd better go back and talk to Mrs Nelson-Stanley." She turned to Maria. "Do you want to come with me?"

Maria nodded. Sarah Jane turned to the two boys.

"You two stay here." she instructed.

"What about me?" Penny asked.

Maria looked at Penny. The two of them were best friends, she wanted Penny to be with her."

"She can come, can't she?" Maria checked.

"Yes." Sarah Jane agreed.

Clyde and Luke looked horrified.

"But she gave it to me." Luke protested. "And I brought you in on this. It's like my case!" Clyde moaned. "Why does Penny get to go?"

"I have a way with the elderly." Penny joked and moved towards the door.

Sarah Jane finished giving the boys instructions and then move down the stairs. Penny stopped Maria just as they were about to go down.

"Are you alright?" Penny asked.

"Mum's back." Maria said.

Mrs Gribbins stared at the nun in front of her. The nun was very beautiful but also very demanding. She wanted to know every detail and, as Mrs Gribbins concluded her story, the questions came.

"And you're sure it was the talisman?" the nun, Sister Helena, snapped.

"Absolutely. I saw her give it to the boy."

"Why would she give it to the boy unless she knew we were looking for it? You told us she barely knows her own name." Sister Helena pointed out.

Mrs Gribbins handed over Sarah Jane's business card with an announcement that she knew where to find the boy.

"All the same, we have paid you well for your assistance, Mrs Gribbins, but this just complicates everything. The Abbess will want to see you."

Sister Helena smiled at the idea of handing Mrs Gribbins over to the Abbess. The idea horrified the manageress. Two nuns appeared and grabbed Mrs Gribbins by the arms. They escorted her away and Sister Helena stood alone for a few seconds. Then she heard a scream that could have only come from the manageress. A smile toyed with her lips as she walked away.

Mrs Randall lead Sarah Jane, Maria and Penny into Bea's room. The room was full of framed photographs of different and exotic locations.

"Poor Bea, she can't really tell you anything, Miss Smith. It's the Alzheimer's, you know. Such a tragedy after the life she led." Mrs Randall said. "All those romantic places. I bet Clyde will take you to some of those." she finished, turning to Penny.

Maria shot Penny and questioning glance.

"She thinks me and Clyde are dating." Penny explained in a whisper.

"She's been everywhere." Sarah Jane said, studying the pictures. "Was this her husband?" "Archaeologist, so the nurses reckon. They went all over the world together." Mrs Randall explained.

"What happened to him?" Penny asked.

"He died about five years ago. Bea started to lose it after that. That's when she washed up here."

Maria picked up a picture and saw a familiar item.

"The talisman." she said, pointing at it.

Penny nodded to show her she was right.

"Talisman? I thought you wanted to talk to her about the ghost?"

"Possibly evil talismans and ghost stories go hand in hand." Penny said. "It's what the readers want."

That was when Bea looked in. She looked startled for a few seconds, seeing the strangers in her room but smiled.

"Do I know you? I'm sorry, these days I'm not very good with faces." Bea asked, lightly touching her forehead.

"This is Sarah Jane Smith, a reporter. Those two are her daughter, Penny, and Maria, her..."

"Work experience girl." Maria answered.

"Oh, oh, well, it's my husband you want to talk to, then." Bea replied.

"No, it's you I need to talk to, Bea. Can you tell me where you got this talisman?" Sarah Jane asked, showing Bea the picture that Maria had been looking at before hand.

Bea's eyes fell upon the man in the picture and she managed a weak smile.

"That's my Edgar." she murmured.

"Your husband?" Maria asked.

"Yes, he used to say the Sontarans were the silliest-looking race in the galaxy." Bea smiled, remembering.

Maria noticed that at the mention of the word Sontaran, Penny's attention was fixed on the old woman. Her hands screwed up into fists and her looked scared and angry at the same time. Sarah Jane offered her daughter a compassionate smiled before continuing to ask Bea questions.

"What did you say?" Sarah Jane said, just to check she wasn't hearing things.

"She's always going on about monsters and spacemen." Mrs Randall said, looking at Maria and Penny. "Some of those movies you get now-a-days can really mess with your head."

"She's seen Sontarans." Sarah Jane smiled, amazed.

"What's a Sontaran?" Maria asked, puzzled.

"A creature bred to kill and murder and fight. A being that enjoys war and nothing else." Penny spat.

Maria couldn't tell what had brought on such a reaction but it was terrible to see her friend that way.

"The silliest race in the galaxy, that's what Edgar used to say. Like a huge potato with a ray gun. Quite nasty blighters they were, all the same." Bea said.

"Yes, Bea, yes, they are. You are so right." Sarah Jane laughed.

She wasn't happy about the Sontarans; she knew the reason behind Penny's feelings of absolute hatred towards them. She was happy that Bea could remember all her adventures: to have a life like Bea's and then forget it all was horrible.

"You shouldn't encourage her, Miss Smith. She'll go on and on about monsters, and especially the Gorgon. I saw that years ago at the flicks with Christopher Lee and er, Barbara Shelley." Mrs Randall said.

At the meantion of the Gorgon, Bea suddenly looked very scared.

Luke and Clyde were trying to get readings out of Mr Smith so they could be of some use but he was half way through the scan and refused to tell the boys anything until he was done. Then the doorbell rung. Luke went to get it, Clyde following him. Luke opened the door to see three nuns standing on the doorstep. Both of the boys felt their hearts skip a beat. They didn't like that one bit,.

"Hello." Luke said slowly, trying to act normally.

"Hello, I'm Sister Helena from St Agnes's Abbey. And who might you be?" the nun at the front of the group said.

"He's Luke, I'm Clyde." Clyde said defensively.

"And which one of you fine young men were at Lavender Lawns today, and left with a gift from one of the old ladies?"

"We don't know what you're talking about." Clyde snapped.

"How do you know she gave me anything? She wouldn't have told you." Luke said, trying to copy Clyde and be defensive.

_How do Sarah Jane and Penny get Luke to work undercover?_ Clyde thought.

"Can it, Luke." he ordered.

Luke didn't stop.

"Why are you hunting through the old people's home looking for talismans?" Luke asked.

That was the final straw. Luke had told the nuns all they needed to know. "Luke!" Clyde shouted.

"Boys, you don't understand what you've got your hands on." Helena informed the boys.

"Well, you're not getting your hands on it either." Clyde spat back.

"Give me the talisman!" Sister Helena ordered, reaching out towards the boys. "Hello, Sister." Alan called, walking down the drive. "Collection, is it?"

Sister Helena turned to look at Alan as he handed over some money for their collection. She turned back to the boys, offered them a glare and then disappeared with the other nuns. Alan turned to Luke and Clyde.

"I was after Maria. She was a bit upset earlier. You haven't seen her, have you?" Alan asked.

"She want out with Sarah Jane and Penny." Luke told him.

"Okay. Look, do me a big favour, will you? When they get back, just tell her I was looking, okay?"

"Of course." Luke said.

"Cheers." Alan replied and walked off back to his house.

Clyde turned to Luke. He tried not to seem too disapproving but he had to make his point.

"Listen, Luke. When weirdo nuns turn up on your doorstep asking about freaky glowing alien gizmos, one thing you never do is tell them you've got one."

"I didn't." Luke said.

Which was true, he hadn't, but in Clyde's eyes he had pretty much done that.

"We should call Mum and tell her what happened." Luke added.

"We could go round there." Clyde pointed out.

"Isn't phoning quicker?" Luke inquired.

_Sometimes it's like hitting my head against a brick wall._ Clyde thought.

"Sure we could phone. Or we could go round there and get back in on the action, yeah?" Clyde said.

Luke smiled and closed the door, both boys making their way down the drive. In a car at the end of the road, Sister Helena followed them with a glare.

Bea was sorting through her records while Sarah Jane, Maria and Penny had a quick meeting at the back of the room.

"So, if Bea's wearing this talisman, and it's alien, and she's seen these Sontarans, she isn't just talking about a bunch of old horror movies, like Mrs Randall thinks, is she." Maria concluded.

"Can we stop mentioning the Sontarans?" Penny asked, annoyed.

Sarah Jane and Maria both nodded.

"Aliens have been coming to Earth for centuries, Maria. Now maybe Bea's adventures with her archaeologist husband involved a lot more than just old pots and bones." Sarah Jane said.

Penny moved away to look at the pictures again to see if there was more evidence of aliens. Maria held Sarah Jane back as she went to follow her daughter.

"Why doesn't Penny like Sontarans?" Maria asked.

"One day I'll tell you." Sarah Jane promised.

Maria nodded and then music filled the room. Bea had put on a record and began dancing round the room.

"This was our song." Bea told the three reporters. "Edgar had such a lovely voice."

"I'm sure he did." Penny said, soothingly. "He must have been quite a man."

"It's so sad. The things she must have seen, and now everyone just thinks she's crazy." Maria considered.

"Yeah, well, who knows where any of us will end up?"

She looked at Maria and Penny and just hoped that those two didn't end up alone, like Bea or like she had been.

"But someone doesn't think you're crazy, do they, Bea? Someone knows what the talisman is and they want it."

"The talisman?" Bea pondered as if she was remembering things.

"Yes, Bea. The talisman. Tell me what you know. I promise I'll believe you. Sometimes people have thought I've been mad, but I've seen things too, like you." Sarah Jane said.

"Things most people won't believe." Penny clarified.

"Edgar unearthed it in a dig, in, in Syria, and he gave it to me. And he had no idea what it was. He had no idea." Bea said, remembering back, sounding scared.

"So what is it?"

"They mustn't find it. They mustn't find it!" Bea gasped, shaking.

Penny went to help her stand but Bea batted her hands away.

"Who, Bea?" Maria asked.

"Who do you mean?" Penny added.

"The sisters!" Bea half sobbed. "They protect her."

"Who?" Sarah Jane asked.

"The Gorgon."

Sarah Jane stood in her lounge. She briefly wondered where the boys had got to but she knew it didn't really matter. They were probably out at the park or something. Penny was searching through the book shelf.

"Here we go." she said, producing a book on myths. "You used to read it to me every night."

Sarah Jane nodded, remembering how much Penny had loved those stories.

"And it's all in there?" Maria asked.

"Yeah." Penny nodded.

"A Gorgon, all snakes for hair and turning people to stone by looking at them? It's a fairy story, isn't it?" Maria said.

"A myth. A Greek myth. There's a big difference. And incidentally, for future reference, Maria, even some fairy tales have a foundation in fact. Here it is." Sarah Jane corrected, flicking through the pages of the book.

"There were three Gorgons, the hideous daughters of Phorcys the sea god and Ceto." Penny remembered. "Stheno, Euryale and Medusa."

"That's right." Sarah Jane said, checking it in the book. "But in some versions of the story there was just one. Medusa. And she wasn't always ugly. She was a beautiful nymph with golden hair, but Poseidon fell in love with her and jealous Athena turned her into a Gorgon."

"Medusa was killed by Perseus as a challenge."

"The Greeks were always dishing out challenges to each other. I think it must be a man thing. But this one really had to be a tough call. Warrior after warrior had tried to slay the Gorgons, but all of them turned to stone." Sarah Jane explained.

"Because they had to look at them to kill them." Maria finished.

"Only if they were thick." Penny said, smirking at the mirror hanging on the wall of the lounge.

"Perfect defence mechanism. Once you laid eyes on a Gorgon there was no escape. You couldn't run, you couldn't attack. Your body was already turning to stone. And there was nothing you could do to stop it. One glance was all it took. Terrifying."

Sarah Jane concluded the story and looked at the two girls. They both were trying to imagine what it would be like to be turned to stone.

"Does Bea believe that Gorgons actually existed?" Maria asked.

"I think she believes one still does." Penny answered with a frown.

Clyde and Luke turned when they heard the sound of tires screeching. A black hearse had pulled up along side the road and neither boy liked the look of who was getting out. It was Sister Helena and her nun companions.

"Oh no, it's sister sinister again." Clyde mumbled, annoyed.

"Don't run away, Luke. I won't hurt you. I just want to have a little chat." Sister Helena told Luke.

"What about?" Luke asked.

Clyde was astounded that Luke could not have realised that he was in danger the moment he talked to the nuns.

"Don't listen to her." Clyde told him. "No way is she really a nun."

"Whatever  
else would I be?" Sister Helena asked.

"I don't know but I bet you ain't got legs under those robes, just a bunch of slimy alien tentacles." Clyde muttered, knowing Luke could relate to evil women with slimy tentacles.

Helena laughed.

"Your friend watches too much TV. I think perhaps we could talk a little more sensibly without him. Jump in the car. We'll go to the abbey." Sister Helena said.

Luke was hesitant but Sister Helena kept trying. She took his arm and began to lead him towards the hearse. Clyde kept protesting. Every time Sister Helena talked to Luke she had a soothing voice but with Clyde she snapped.

"The talisman is dangerous?" Luke exclaimed.

Two nuns moved between Clyde and Luke.

"More than you can imagine." Helena told Luke as she pressed her hand into the small of Luke's back.

Luke was pushed into the hearse before he had time to react. He turned but the nuns blocked his escape.

"Clyde!" he shouted as Helena pushed Clyde over.

Then the hearse pulled away. Luke looked back from where he was trapped in the hearse, his heart thundering. He watched as Clyde got smaller and smaller in the back window. Penny had told Luke about hearses and what they were used for and Luke got the distinct idea that he would be taking another ride in one if he didn't escape soon.

"So, it's an alien? This Gorgon is an alien?"

"Aliens were running a fizzy pop factory and a school, do you really find it hard to believe that a mythical creature could be an alien?" Penny asked in answer to Maria's questions.

"But one's survived all this time?" "Perhaps. The Doctor is very old." Sarah Jane reasoned.

"But how can it turn people to stone just by looking horrible?" Maria asked.

"I don't think it works quite like that." Sarah Jane laughed.

Penny smirked.

"Otherwise quite a few of the girls from our school would be Gorgons too." Penny joked.

Maria smiled just as Sarah Jane's phone rang. Sarah Jane moved away to take the call.

"So Sarah Jane used to read you myths as bedtimes stories?"

"Yeah." Penny said. "When she wasn't telling me stories."

"Did she tell you about Sontarons or...?"

Penny's normal calm smile had disappeared. She looked at Maria and, with her eyes, begged her friend to to dig any deeper.

"It doesn't matter." Maria said quickly.

An awkward silence descended over the two of them until Sarah Jane walked in.

"Luke's been kidnapped by a group of nuns!" Sarah Jane informed the two girls, already getting ready to leave.

Clyde ran towards Sarah Jane's car. Both Penny and Maria were in the back, offering Clyde concerned looks. Clyde was stumbling over his words, trying to explain the situation to Sarah Jane.

"I warned him not to talk to that freaky nun. I tried to stop him but just happened so fast. They pulled up, and bam!"

Maria and Penny shot each other worried looks. They were dealing with a Gorgon and they didn't want Luke to end up as some sort of statue.

"She was after the talisman." Clyde explained, reaching for the car door.

"Where's she taken Luke? Any ideas?" Sarah Jane asked, climbing in.

"I don't know. Some abbey." Clyde said.

"Well, obviously. She's a nun, Clyde, it's not like she's going to have taken him to the beach." Penny groaned.

"Think, Clyde." Maria urged.

"I'm trying to. I don't know."

Clyde gave the question a lot of thought and soon came up with a name. "Some old woman's name, like the lady writer. The old lady detective."

"Miss Marple?" Sarah Jane suggested.

Clyde shook his head. It didn't sound right.

"Agatha Christie?" Penny suggested.

"St Agatha?" Sarah Jane tried, leading on from Penny's suggestion.

"Agnes!" Clyde exclaimed, the name suddenly coming back to him. "St Agnes' abbey!"

Sarah Jane smiled slightly and drove off at high speed.

Sarah Jane knocked on the large wooden door as she sorted through her purse to find the right ID. She selected one and glanced back at the car to make sure that all the children were hidden. She didn't want to lose even more of them to the Gorgon. A nun opened the door and studied Sarah Jane suspiciously.

"Hello, my name is Felicity Barnes. I'm doing a story for the Times on religion in the twenty first century. Is there anyone I can talk to? Oh, perhaps Sister Helena?" Sarah Jane smiled and pushed her way in.

She glanced back at the car one more time as she went. When they heard the door close, all three children counted to ten in their heads. They then slid silently out of the car.

Sarah Jane had been looking for all signs of her son when she was lead through the abbey. She was lead into a large and beautiful library. At first she expected there to be someone else in the room but, as she moved around, it became clear she was alone. Then she heard the door's lock clicking. She turned and frowned.

"So much for fake ID." she muttered, hoping that the children were doing better.

Maria, Clyde and Penny kept as close to the wall of the abbey as possible as they crept round. They had a few close calls when they nearly walked straight into groups of nuns but they managed to hide from them all.

"There's a window." Maria said, pointing to an open window above them.

"Yeah, but it's on the wrong floor." Clyde replied.

"I could reach it." Penny said, checking the old fashioned brick work.

Clyde and Maria shook their heads but Penny was already climbing. She managed it with easy, latching her fingers and feet in the cement gaps in the bricks. Soon she swung into the open window. Maria turned to Clyde, they both knew they had to keep out of sight until Penny showed up and opened a window they could get through.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Clyde asked. "What if she finds the Gorgon?"

"This is Penny. I'm sure she can take a creature like that." Maria murmured but didn't find herself believing it.

"I'm just worried that..."

"Clyde, she'll be fine." Maria said.

There was the sound of a window sliding up and Penny was standing there smiling.

"Who'll be fine?" Penny asked.

She helped Maria through the window first and offered Clyde a hand. Clyde didn't take it, preferring to climb in himself.

"Now what?" Clyde asked as he climbed through. "Where do we go?"

"What do nuns normally do with kids they kidnap?" Maria questioned.

"How am I meant to know?" Penny shrugged but lead the way down a corridor remarking how it seemed as good as any.

They came to a large wooden door and they couldn't tell what was on the other side of it. Penny went for the handle.

"Hold on." Maria said. "What if it's in there?" Clyde asked.

"Just keep your eyes closed." Penny told them and shut hers.

She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. She opened her eyes just a fraction to scan the room and gasped.

"Guys." she murmured.

Clyde and Maria opened their eyes. There, standing in the centre of what looked like a bedroom, was a stone statue of Mrs Gribbins. Only they knew it wasn't a statue.

"She's been turned to stone." Maria gasped.

Penny nodded and lead the way forwards. She stroked against the stone and felt a horrible cold touch on her fingers. Clyde and Maria both looked at her expectantly.

"There's nothing we can do." Penny admitted. "Just stop Luke having the same fate."

Then there was the sound of a door opening. Maria frowned.

"Clyde, did you close the door we came in with?" she hissed.

"No." Clyde said, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Because that means there's another door."

All the teenagers turned to see a black veiled old woman standing in another doorway. They could all feel in the pits of their stomachs that they were facing the Gorgon.

Sarah Jane was flicking through books, looking for something to do and a possible way to fight the Gordon. Then she heard the sound of the door being unlocked. She turned and saw Luke walking into the room and looking around, confused. Sarah Jane ran to him and pulled him close, hugging him tightly.

"Luke! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Luke informed her.

He didn't understand why she seemed so scared. He was away longer when he went to school and, although the nuns might have tried to hurt him, it was clear he was okay. He didn't understand her concern but he didn't reject it either.

"So, what do you think you're doing, getting into a stranger's car? For an intelligent boy, sometimes I can't believe how stupid you are." Sarah Jane said.

Luke tried to protest but another voice filled the room. Sarah Jane and Luke both turned to see Sister Helena.

"Luke was never in any danger, Miss Smith, but it seemed that bringing him here was the fastest way of attracting your attention. Although your other three young friends were a surprise." Sister Helena sneered.

She snapped her fingers and three nuns walked in. Each of them had their vice-like grips enclosed around one of the other three children.

"We found Mrs Gribbins." Clyde reported.

"She's been turned to stone." Maria added.

Helena snapped her fingers again and the children were released, running to Sarah Jane and Luke. Penny pulled Luke into a protective sibling hug and repeated what their mother had told him only seconds before. Sister Helena and Sarah Jane continued to talk until Sarah Jane asked if there real was a Gorgon.

"A creature with writhing serpents for hair? Those melodramatic Greeks. They never could resist embellishing a story. But yes, as you've seen, the myth isn't entirely without foundation."

The veiled woman from before walked in, hissing. Sarah Jane forced all the children protectively behind her.

"But it's an alien, right?" Maria clarified.

"The Gorgons travelled to our world three thousand years ago. Once there was three. Now only one."

Clyde found the conversation begin to angle towards a history lesson before Sarah Jane introduced the talisman into the mix. Then fury glinted in Sister Helena's eyes.

"The key to whatever brought the Gorgons to Earth. And the Sisters have been searching for it ever since. Did you get close once, Sister Helena? Maybe fifty years ago. Was that when the second Gorgon died?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Professor Nelson-Stanley and his meddlesome wife. But you have the key now, Miss Smith. I'm sure you will be more reasonable." Sister Helena spat.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Penny told her.

Sister Helena shot Penny a glare which caused her mother to move protectively between the nun and the teenaged girl. Then the nun launched into a sob story about how the Gorgon simply wanted to return home: a story nun of the gang believed.

"Why should I believe you?" Sarah Jane asked, knowing she had to do the adult thing and give the woman the benefit of the doubt.

"Miss Smith, you have no choice." Sister Helena said.

"All right. We'll get it." Sarah Jane said, gesturing to all of the children.

"Smith and the boy stay here." Helena growled.

"Which one?" Penny asked.

"Both." Sister Helena said, realising that both Penny and Luke shared the Smith title.

"No! They're coming with me."

"They'll be perfectly safe." Sister Helena said, already leading Sarah Jane and Maria from the room. "So long as you don't try to deceive us."

Then the door was locked, leaving Penny, Luke and Clyde trapped in the library.

"Well, that went well." Clyde remarked.

Sarah Jane rushed into the attic. She needed to find a way to trick the nuns into releasing all the children. They weren't letting Maria up into the attic with her because that would mean they lost another hostage. They thought they held all the cards but Sarah Jane knew that was the most dangerous thing you could do. She took the talisman from Mr Smith and silenced his protests. Then she produced her sonic and had a great idea.

Maria was pacing the room, surrounded by several nuns and the Gorgon itself. Sister Helena had picked up the book on myths and was flicking through the story of the Gorgon with a dull smile on her lips.

"Does she speak English?" Maria asked, looking at the Gorgon.

"The Gorgon doesn't need to speak." Helena snapped without even looking up from her book.

"You mean she's, like, telepathic? Is that how she controls you? I mean, looking after a Gorgon isn't exactly normal for a bunch of nuns, is it?" Maria asked.

Helena told her to be quiet and wondered what was keeping Sarah Jane. Then Sarah Jane entered with the talisman. She barely said a word before she had the tip of the sonic pressed against it.

"Either you let my children and their friend go, or I will destroy the talisman with sonic disruption." Sarah Jane threatened.

She knew that as soon as the children were free from the nuns she could get to work on stopping the Gorgon fully.

"I warned you, Miss Smith. Now look on the face of the Gorgon and feel your flesh turn to stone." Helena spat through a smile.

The Abbess reached towards her veil and began to lift it. Sarah Jane went to cover Maria's eyes and, in doing so, let Helena grab the talisman. Confusion took over the lounge as Sarah Jane and Maria tried to avoid the Gorgon's eyes. Then Alan walked in. He was completely unaware of what as happening.

"No! Don't look!" Maria shouted. "DAD!"

The Gorgon's snake like coils of light hit the person who was looking at it's face. The engulfed them and suddenly faded, leaving everyone in the room staring at a stone Alan Jackson.

* * *

**Dum, Dum, DAAAR! (If you know the series you know what is going to happen!) By the way, don't ask me about Penny and the Sontarons, I have an idea about it but it's pretty awesome and surprising so please wait and see!**


	7. Eye of the Gorgon part 2

Hi. Yay13 here. Firstly: I don't own the Sarah Jane Adventures. Secondly: if I did I really wouldn't be sitting on my sofa during the Easter holidays with pretty much nothing to do. Thirdly: I am always looking for requests for aliens or characters to fit in. Fourthly: (which surprisingly is a word) please review. They normally make my day when I have homework.

* * *

Maria and Sarah Jane stood shell-shocked as the Gorgon was lead from the room. Sister Helena was pleased with herself, smiling at the talisman and gloating.

"After three thousand years, the doorway to your people can be opened again." Helena said, turning to the Gorgon.

"And what then? Invasion?" Sarah Jane asked.

"The Gorgons need us to survive, Miss Smith. Opening the portal to their world isn't opening the door to invasion, but salvation." the nun assured her.

Maria took a step forwards. She tried to look threatening but she only looked as scared as she felt.

"What have you done to my dad?" she asked.

"Pay heed to the Gorgon's warning and don't interfere."

Then Sister Helena left. Maria turned to the stone statue and began to cry.

"He can't be. He can't be." Maria murmured. "I didn't mean to shout at you, dad, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Listen to me, Maria. You are not going to lose it. You are not going to fall apart. Do you understand me? Whatever has happened to your father, there's one thing I've learned after all these years. There is always a chance. Do you hear me?" Sarah Jane told her.

She hated to see Maria like this: so heartbroken and scared. She was on the verge of losing one of her parents. Then Maria turned on Sarah Jane.

"Mum was right. I shouldn't have had anything to do with you. It's all your fault! You and your aliens. I wish I'd never seen that one in your garden. I wish I'd never seen you! Everything was fine till we moved here. Everything was fine." Maria moaned.

"I know, Maria, I know." Sarah Jane comforted, pulling Maria into a light hug. "But we have to try. We have to try to put things right."

Penny was staring at a bust of Medusa that stood near the fire place. She didn't like it. She couldn't shake the feeling it was staring at her. Causally, she slipped off her jacket and covered the bust with it.

"So lets review the situation:" she began, "we're trapped in a library in the middle of a monastery full of evil nuns and a Gorgon and no way of easy escape."

"Is Sarah Jane really going to give that Gorgon thing the talisman?" Clyde asked Penny, walking over to her.

Penny had been about to answer but Luke got there first.

"Of course not. If the Gorgon only wanted to go home, then why would Mrs Nelson-Stanley so scared of the nuns finding it? Mum knows that. She'll find a way of tricking them." Luke told Clyde.

He was reading through books he had found in the library, taking in all the information. Penny could remember Luke learning to read, even holding the book the wrong way up at one point. It had been strange to watch him then. It was strange to watch him read so quickly then as well. He seemed so calm and at home despite the fact that they were being used a hostages to get a freelance journalist to hand over an alien talisman to a Gorgon that wanted to take over the world.

"Are you sure? I mean, what if she doesn't? What will they do to us?"

"She's our mum. She wouldn't let us down. I bet right now they'll be thinking of a way of getting us out."

"All the same, we should be looking for a way of escaping, not catching up on our reading." Clyde pointed out to Luke.

"At least he's doing something." Penny reminded Clyde.

"It's a history of the abbey. Originally, it was a private house, built in the 16th century." Luke said.

Clyde made a sarcastic comment about it which Penny elected to ignore for Luke's sake.

"That was during the Reformation, when priests were being hunted."

"Since when were you so good a history?" Clyde asked. "Even Mrs Pitman has given up on teaching you it." Clyde asked, referring to their history teacher.

Him and Penny sat together in history. Penny was focused in most lessons but in history she turned it into a game of guess which aliens caused which historical event with him. They would pick holes in each others theories. She normal won because she knew more aliens but Clyde was sure what she was making some of the weaknesses up. There was no way that Luke had defeated the bane using an alien version of a mobile phone.

"My Godfather is a time traveller." Penny explained.

"Which one?" Clyde asked.

He knew for a fact that Penny had at least two Godfathers and no Godmothers.

"The Doctor." Penny answered. "Well, he's unofficially my Godfather. On an alien planet he is but not on Earth."

"Anyway. Houses were built with escape routes and passages. Houses like this one." Luke told the two of them.

He stood up and walked over to where Penny had hung her jacket. He picked it up and revealed the Medusa head, throwing the jacket to Penny. It fell short but Penny tired to scoop her jacket up before Clyde noticed. Clyde did notice but he didn't say anything. Luke carefully turned the head of the bust and there was a click. A panel slid up in a large fire place and the three teenagers shot each other looks of joy.

"Come on. Lets get out of here." Penny told the two boys before disappearing into the fireplace.

Clyde and Luke smiled at each other and then disappeared inside.

Mr Smith had scanned Alan and now Sarah Jane and Maria were waiting for the results. Suddenly the computer spoke up.

"My scan indicates Mister Jackson has undergone massive molecular transmutation." Mr Smith told them.

Maria and Sarah Jane both darted over to the computer.

"We know that, Mr Smith." Sarah Jane snapped. "He's been turned to stone."

"Not stone. Not strictly speaking. It's an organic petrification process." Mr Smith said.

Maria let the words settle in and tried to find their meaning.

"Like fossilisation?" Maria tried.

"It's comparable. And, to correct you again, Sarah Jane, Mister Jackson hasn't turned but is turning."

Suddenly there was a glimmer of hope in Sarah Jane's eyes. She looked straight at Mr Smith.

"You mean the process isn't complete? Could it still be reversed?"

"Theoretically." Mr Smith answered.

Sarah Jane managed to hold on the little bit of hope she had and wondered if Maria could fell the hope too.

"Well, what does that mean?" Maria half shouted.

She was frustrated over everything – how cryptic the computer was being, the danger her dad was in, the fact that her best friends could be getting the same fate right that minute.

"It can be done. The molecular transmutation isn't yet stable. But, I don't know how to do it." Mr Smith admitted.

Maria began to shout at the computer, begging him to have some answers. He simply didn't.

"I'm not sure there is sufficient time. My scan suggests molecular stabilisation will be complete in approximately ninety minutes."

Suddenly Maria turned to Sarah Jane, an idea glinting in her eye.

"Bea! She might know something."

"Well, she might. But Maria, Bea has Alzheimer's. Her mind is trapped in the past." Sarah Jane said, sadly, but Maria wasn't going to be stopped.

"Well, that doesn't matter because that's where she met the Gorgon. We've only got till four o'clock." Maria squealed.

Sarah Jane smiled at the genius idea and her and Maria raced for the door.

Penny was crawling on her hands and knees, ignoring the spider webs that were hitting against her. Luke was following her, instructing her on the way. Clyde was going last. He was getting hit with the fewest spider webs but he kept squealing.

"Not scared of spiders are you?" Penny teased.

"I'm not scared." Clyde snapped. "It's just I keep thinking they're grabbing me."

"The spiders you find in the UK are not going to do you any lasting damage." Luke said.

"That's not the point." Clyde moaned.

"What is the point?" Luke asked, really confused.

Penny sighed and silenced her brother.

"Which way?" she asked after coming to a stop where the tunnels forked into two.

Luke paused and then pointed down one tunnel.

"That way." he said.

The group continued onwards until there was a shred of light ahead of them.

Luke took Penny's hand as she pulled him out of the hole. The hole that lead out of the tunnels had weeds growing around one end and came up in some sort of old stone out house. Penny pulled Clyde out of the hole and they emerged from the out house brushing spider webs off them. They stopped when they began to look around the garden. In front of them were finely kept gardens littered with stone statues. Horror was fixed in the faces of all the statues and the teenagers all knew what they were: the Gorgon's victims.

"Why couldn't they get garden gnomes like everyone else?" Clyde asked, dryly.

"Gnomes are boring." Penny remarked, walking over to the nearest statue.

It was Mrs Gribbins. Penny didn't touch the statue but simply stared.

"It's killed all these people then put them on show." Luke said, shocked.

"Like trophies." Penny added.

"Or a warning." Clyde tried, knowing that if they didn't get out of there soon they could find themselves part of the collection. "And I'm taking it. Let's get out of here."

He grabbed Penny and Luke by the arms and began to walk them out of the abbey.

Luke stopped Penny and Clyde just before they turned a corner. The group slowly looked round and saw a group of nuns – the ones who had left with Sarah Jane. They recognised Sister Helena and the Gorgon in an instant. Sister Helena was holding the talisman and Penny got a horrible feeling that something really really bad had happened.

"We have the key. Rejoice, Sisters! The Gorgons shall be free!" Sister Helena cheered.

_Free to do what? _Penny wondered, moving closer to get a better look.

Luke pulled her back cautiously. They watched as the Gorgon got out of the hearse and stumbled.

"Mother Abbess! She is weakening. We must open the portal as soon as possible." Sister Helena said and began to help the Gorgon inside.

As soon as all the nuns were gone, Clyde began to hurry off.

"Now, while the coast is clear." Clyde said.

Penny and Luke stayed by the wall. They shot each other a glance as Clyde turned back to look at them to see why they weren't following.

"We can't." the Smiths said simultaneously.

"What are you talking out?" Clyde asked.

"I promised Mrs Nelson-Stanley that I wouldn't let them take the talisman. I've let her down." Luke said.

"And something has probably happened to mum." Penny said but Clyde ignored her, turning to Luke.

"When you promised her, did she tell you you'd be going up against a Gorgon and if you kept your word you'd probably end up a garden ornament?" Clyde asked.

Luke shook his head nervously. He was aware of Penny talking to herself, about something but he was too focused on talking to Clyde.

"She wasn't straight with you, Luke, and this goes way beyond the call of duty." Clyde said, then he turned to Penny. "Now can we go?"

Penny shook her head.

"As I was explaining to anyone who was listening, which evidently wasn't you two: Mum would never have given them the talisman unless something had happened." Penny said.

That hit Clyde hard. He hadn't been thinking about that. He had made a point of avoiding thinking about it.

"What, you mean that thing? Sarah Jane and Maria?"

"If it has then it's up to us." Penny said. "Any ideas?" "I think I have one." Luke said and explained his plan.

Maria knocked on the door to Bea's room. She knew the woman was in there. She had been listening outside it for a few seconds, trying to work out what to do and say. Sarah Jane had dropped her off there and Maria had hoped she would stay but Sarah Jane had needed to go and rescue the others. With the Gorgon returning and no need to keep the other hostage, they would be in danger.

"Come in." Bea called.

Maria opened the door slightly and walked inside. The room still took her breath away.

"Bea? Hello, it's Maria. Do you remember me?" Maria asked carefully.

Bea paused for a few moments and studied Maria and then turned back to the photos she was going through. After a few seconds she put them down and turned to Maria with a smile.

"Hello, darling. You're a little young, aren't you?" Bea said.

"Young?" Maria repeated, wondering what the woman meant.

"To be the curator of the Museum of Egyptology."

there was a beat and then Maria realised something horrible. Bea didn't remember her.

The nuns were circling a large stone well with snakes carved on the side. They were smiling at each other and chanting.

"Serve the Gorgon! Serve the Gorgon!"

Sister Helena held up the Talisman in front of them all.

"Behold the key to the portal. After three thousand years, our work here comes to an end and our world is on the threshold of a new age. The Gorgon world is a hundred million light years away, and the angle of ascension must be aligned perfectly." Sister Helena said triumphantly, placing the talisman in it's place and having her face bathed in a gentle green glow.

"The transdimensional occlusion is forming. Alignment is at twenty per cent." one of the nuns announced.

Sister Helena smiled.

"Only an hour before the portal opens and your people shall join you. After all these centuries, Gorgons shall have their promised land. The time grows short. The host is dying. We need to find a new carrier before the portal opens."

That was when a nun, a bit smaller that the others walked in. She had a veil over her face and wasn't chanting.

Maria was upset. Everything she tried with Bea just ended in the woman becoming more distracted by the past. Bea was currently playing her records. She put one on, smiled and began to dance slowly to it.

"Edgar and I danced to this in the palace. In the palace of the Sultan of Ishkanbah. Do you know the Sultan?" Bea asked.

Maria shook her head.

"No. I've never even heard of Ishka... Bea, listen. The Gorgon has turned my dad into stone, and if you don't help me, I'm never going to get him back. Do you understand?"

Bea didn't answer. She continued to talk about meeting the Sultan and then she smiled.

"He's seen the Yeti, you know." Bea said.

Maria had an idea.

"Tell me. Tell me about the things you've seen. I've seen all kinds of things with Sarah Jane." Maria urged.

But Bea began to ask about who Sarah Jane was and Maria felt her hope slipping away. When Maria said the word 'Edgar' she lost Bea to her memories. Only then did Maria feel completely helpless.

Sarah Jane tried her sonic on the doors of the abbey. She was surprised and horrified to find them deadlocked. She wasn't going to let the nuns keep her children and their friend hostage any longer. No deadlock was going to stop her. She ran round and found a low wall. She had watched Penny climb things lots of time. It wasn't hard for her to climb over the wall and begin to search the other side of the abbey.

Chrissie was annoyed. She was staying with Alan and Maria but both of her hosts had disappeared and neither were answering her calls. She could think of only one place she would find them. Sarah Jane's.

"Maria? Alan? Are you there?" she called, ringing the doorbell.

No one answered, not even Sarah Jane or one of her children. Chrissie decided to go round and check the back. She looked through the lounge window and gasped. In the lounge there was a stone statue of Alan!

"The woman's obsessed." Chrissie remarked, climbing through an open window into Sarah Jane's lounge.

She moved closer to the statue and took in all the detail. She touched it gently and felt how smooth it was, almost like it was real skin.

"She really is a bunny boiler, this one. Couldn't have the real thing, so she's made herself a statue. I bet you'd be flattered if you knew, wouldn't you? You didn't know, did you? So it's come to this, has it?" Chrissie said, coming to a sudden realisation. "Talking to a flaming statue instead of the real thing. Maybe her and me aren't so different. Both have to make do with what we can. The difference is, she doesn't know what she's missing, does she? Still, you're all right. Anyone can see that. You and Maria get along great. Better off without me around messing things up. Well, like I said, I can make do till I mess things up again, which I will, because I'm me, aren't I? Anyway, er, been nice talking to you."

Then Chrissie turned to leave, climbing out of the window. When she left, a tear swelled up in the eye of the statue and trickled down it's stone cheek.

"Alignment is at forty five per cent." one of the sisters reported.

"Good." Sister Helena said.

"But the Mother Abbess?" the sister inquired.

"Her strength is failing. Soon we will select a new host. Soon the Gorgons and humanity will be one. Until then, bring me the girl from the library. She'll have to do."

The sister turned to leave and Luke, from where he was hiding in a passage way behind a tapestry, frowned. Their plan counted on surprise, if their disappearance was noticed before they started they would lose that. He also didn't like the sound of anything the nuns said that might involve his sister.

Clyde glanced down at his watch, checking it was time. He hoped Luke and Penny were both in position as he reached up and grabbed the rope that was hanging down in front of him.

"All right, Quasimodo, time to do your thing."

Then he pulled and the bell above him began to ring.

Sister Helena looked around in horror. She couldn't understand where the noise was coming from. Then she realised – the bell tower. Her and the nuns began to storm out. All except one. Luke darted out from behind the tapestry and almost ran into the remaining nun. The nun darted over to the talisman and pull it out of it's slot, throwing it to Luke. The nun then pulled back their veil to reveal Penny's smiling face. Luke was impressed. He had watched her come in and he had thought it would have taken her longer to find, steal and get dressed into one of the nun's robes.

"Good work." he congratulated.

"Lets find Clyde." Penny said.

Then the Gorgon flew forwards. She was in a wheelchair, making it clear to the two Smiths that she was even weaker than normal. Penny pulled off her own veil and tossed it between the Gorgon and them. The Gorgon lifted their veil and Penny and Luke ran before they had chance to look at the creature. The nuns came into the room and saw as the two of them escaped.

"Stop them!" Helena ordered.

The group began to meet in a small court yard. Penny and Luke coming from one door, Clyde from the other. Luke held up the talisman to show Clyde he had got it and then they looked around.

"There's loads of them! They're everywhere!" Clyde said as the nuns closed in.

"This way!" a familiar voice shouted and the group turned to see Sarah Jane standing near a door way.

Suddenly nuns began to come through that doorway as well. The nuns circled the group. Sarah Jane pulled the children in close and protectively glared out at the nuns.

They had been locked into the cellar. Penny had quickly dropped her nuns robes, having been wearing her normal clothes underneath them. Clyde was staring at the lock. It was rusty and seemed useless but it was keeping the door locked.

"I bet your lipstick thing would have had this licked, no problem." Clyde moaned.

Sarah Jane nodded. Unfortunately the nuns had taken it off her along with the talisman and the mobile phones of everyone of their prisoners.

"We don't need any Star Trek gadgets. This place is full of secret passages and stuff. Luke read all about it. He's got it all filed in that superbrain of his." Penny reminded them.

"I don't remember any down here." Luke said.

"All the time, there's no harm in trying." Sarah Jane said and the group began to look for some sort of old fashioned switch.

Then Luke turned to Sarah Jane. "Mum. I think the Gorgon is dying." he said.

"Why?" "We saw her stumble earlier, like she was sick." Clyde said.

"And she was in a wheelchair the last time she attacked us." Penny added.

"I heard Sister Helena saying they needed to find a new host. She said, when the portal's open, humanity and the Gorgon will be one. And she sent someone to get Penny." Luke finished.

"That's what she meant. At the house, when she took the talisman, Helena said the Gorgons needed us to survive. I don't think the Abbess is the Gorgon." Sarah Jane exclaimed.

The children all looked at her confused. She was about to explain when the lock clicked and Sister Helena entered.

"Miss Smith, will you come with us?" Sister Helena said.

"Which one?" Penny asked.

"You." Helena answered with a scowl.

Penny frowned and the boys moved protectively between her.

"She is not going anywhere with you." Sarah Jane said.

"How times have changed. Years ago mothers would be queuing up to have their daughters join us." Sister Helena smiled, looking straight at Penny.

"Well not me." Sarah Jane said. "If you need someone, I'll take Penny's place."

"Mum!" Penny exclaimed.

"I'll be fine." Sarah Jane assured her daughter. "Don't let them take her." she instructed her son.

As Sarah Jane went with Helena, she looked back and offered the children a warm smile. Sister Helena turned to the children as well.

"Don't worry. We won't harm a hair on her head and, boys, if your mother doesn't do as we want, we'll be taking Penny shortly." Helena said.

The children weren't sure whether she had just threatened them or talked to them. Either way they didn't like it.

Tears were falling down Maria's cheeks. Everything had just become so real. Her father, and possibly her friends, were being turned into stone statues and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Sarah Jane was right, wasn't she? I thought meeting creatures from other planets was going to be exciting and cool. But she told me. She said it wasn't anything like that. In the end, it just messes you up, your whole life and the people you love. That's why Sarah Jane only had Penny. That's why you're here, isn't it, Bea? With no one in the world who really knows you, or cares. This is how we all end up, isn't it?"

There was a beat of silence and then Bea turned to Maria.

"I had my Edgar. You are young, you'll find yours." Bea said.

"Bea!" Maria gasped. "Are you really there?"

"Where else would I be?" Bea asked, getting hugged by Maria.

Maria wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Bea.

"I haven't got much time. The Gorgon turned my father to stone. Is there a way to save him?"

"Your father? Oh, dear. Oh, deary dear. That's most unpleasant. I should know, it happened to me, you know." Bea said.

Maria felt a sudden joy. It meant that someone had survived what the Gorgon had done. It meant there was a way to reverse it.

"It turned you into stone? But Edgar saved you. He must have. How?"

"The talisman. It is the key to the door between this world and theirs. But it's more. It returned me to flesh and blood." Bea explained. Then Maria's heart sunk. The talisman was in the hands of the Gorgon.

"Then you must get it back. Not only for your father, but for every soul on Earth!" Bea said.

As Maria turned to leave. Bea stopped her.

"Would you er, fetch me my mirror? No, not for me. What do you think I'm going to do, powder my nose while you take on that monster? It's for you."

"For me?" Maria said, staring down at the mirror, confused.

"Whatever do they teach you in schools these days?" Bea groaned.

Sarah Jane watched as Sister Helena put the talisman back in place. The nuns had tied her hands to a beam in the central chamber and Sarah Jane was facing the nun in charge. Penny and Luke had been right about the Gorgon getting weaker. Sarah Jane could see how sick it looked.

"What makes you think the Gorgons will still want to invade? Three thousand years is a long time." Sarah Jane said.

"Not for the Gorgons." Sister Helena countered with a simple smile.

"Without host bodies to carry them? The Gorgons are parasites, aren't they, Sister Helena?" Sarah Jane inquired.

"Parasite. It's such an unattractive word." Sister Helena spat.

"It's what they are, a life-form that lives on another, that depends on another to feed and survive."

Sarah Jane didn't know why they had wanted Penny but she could tell it was probably something to do with the Gorgon's parasitic nature. She just hoped that Penny had not been intended to be some sort of host – she hoped for the Gorgon's sake it wasn't true.

"The Gorgon gives its host life beyond human years. The Abbess has carried the Gorgon for two hundred years, although there have been many hosts over the generations. And now she grows weak. Her time is coming, and the Gorgons have chosen a new host to lead its domination of Earth. You, Miss Smith."

"And you were going to chose my daughter?" Sarah Jane cried. "That's sick. She's only thirteen."

Penny and Luke had continued searching the room long after they had decided there were no passages out. Clyde had given up. Then Luke produced a trowel. He showed it to Penny and she smiled.

"You're going to dig a tunnel?" Clyde asked as Luke handed it to Penny and the girl knelt down near the door.

Knowing the two Smith kids, he wouldn't put it past them.

"No, I'm going to make a screwdriver, the old-fashioned way." Penny answered, inserting the point of the trowel into the top of the screw.

"Not long now, Miss Smith. As the Abbess weakens more, the Gorgon will release its hold on her and you will become leader of a new race ruling planet Earth." Sister Helena smiled, looking into the pit.

There was a growing green light coming from it and a the light seemed to be swirling like a hurricane.

"You can do what you want to me, but this planet will never bow down to that thing." Sarah Jane said firmly.

"It will, Miss Smith. Starting with your children."

Penny caught the last screw and the lock as they fell from the door. "Yeah!" Clyde cheered as the door opened and the children left.

They walked into a corridor only to see a nun was guarding it. The nun was facing away from them.

Penny walked up to the nun with a smile on her lips and pressed gently into a pressure point.

"Sorry about this." Penny said.

The nun sunk to the floor unconscious. Penny turned back to the two boys.

"We need a plan." Luke said.

"Yeah, sure. When we get a chance, we'll figure one out. In the meantime, we need to find Sarah Jane."

Clyde began down the corridor and Luke frowned. He looked at Penny for support but she was already following Clyde down the corridor.

Sister Helena was still looking down at the portal. A small black dot was growing in the centre.

"The portal is opening. The Gorgons are coming. The new Queen must be ready to meet them. Bring the host forward. Don't struggle, Miss Smith. Embrace your destiny." she instructed.

Luke, Penny and Clyde appeared in the doorway and watched as Sarah Jane was untied from the column and brought forwards by the nuns. She tried to convince them that what they were doing was insane by they refused to pay attention.

"No. The Gorgons shall save us. From war, from greed. We will exist only to serve them. We will be at peace everlasting, and you shall be our Queen. To receive the Gorgon, do not look into its eyes, Miss Smith. To do so will turn you to stone." Sister Helena announced.

Two nuns walked forwards holding a blindfold. They attempted to blindfold Sarah Jane.

"I'd rather be a lump of granite than bow down to that thing." Sarah Jane snapped defiantly but was blindfolded.

"You don't have a choice, Miss Smith. Prepare to serve the Gorgon!" the head nun announced.

The other nuns began to chant as the Gorgon rose from her chair. She reached towards her veil. Luke and Penny had seen enough. They both darted forwards.

"Mum!" Luke shouted.

"Leave her alone." Penny cried.

Clyde followed them and they tried to free Sarah Jane. The nuns grabbed them before they had the chance.

"Hold them. The three children can witness the transfer and be the new Queen's first prey."

Sarah Jane realised in horror that Sister Helena meant Penny, Luke and Clyde. She cried out for Helena to leave her children alone. The abbess began to raise her veil and Penny told the boys to look away. That was when Maria darted in. She pushed past the nuns and got between the stream of glowing green snakes that the slithering through the air towards Sarah Jane. She turn raised the mirror and reflected the snakes back. The Gorgon screamed as the snakes began to circle her. Then she was turned to stone. The nuns looked around in confusion, releasing the three children and then stumbling around. Luke untied the blindfold and then hugged Maria.

"You're free. The Gorgon's lost its control over you." Sarah Jane rejoiced.

Then the moment of happiness was shattered when the group looked at the vortex. The Gorgons were beginning to come through. They raced round and Maria fumbled to grab the talisman. Penny grabbed the chain and pulled, pulling the talisman from it's place. The light suddenly died.

"What about your father?" Sarah Jane asked, concerned.

Maria grabbed the talisman off Penny and they ran,

Penny, Clyde and Luke didn't need an explanation when they saw the stone statue in their lounge. They had been given one on the way back but they could have worked it out from just what they could see.

"What if it doesn't work?" Maria asked.

"It will." Penny assured her.

"You've only got a couple of minutes." Clyde said, staring at his watch.

Maria put the talisman on her father's neck and smiled as a green glow engulfed him again. Penny pulled Maria back in case they had made a mistake. Suddenly a flesh and blood Alan Jackson fell to the floor. No one was quick enough to catch him.

"Dad!" Maria cheered.

Her dad was unconscious.

"Quickly. We have to get him out of here before he comes round. There's a chance he won't realise what we do." Sarah Jane said.

Alan woke up on a beach. He had had the strangest dream but it was soon fading away, almost impossible for him to remember it. He got up and realised he was in Sarah Jane's garden. He smiled and looked through the window.

Penny and Clyde were playing a video game while Luke and Maria were going through a book on ancient myths.

Alan exited the garden and felt his arm get caught by someone. He turned and saw Chrissie.

"Where the heck have you been? I've been looking for you. It's been ages!" Chrissie exclaimed.

"I must have been overdoing it a bit. I went looking for Maria, then I must have sat down in Sarah Jane's garden and dozed off. I've found her by the way. She's round Sarah Jane's with her friends."

"Do you know what that woman has in her lounge? It's shocking. Come."

Alan wasn't sure what she meant. He had just looked into the lounge and there had been nothing odd.

"A statue of you." Chrissie said as if answering a question.

"A statue of me? But why?" Alan asked.

"Because she's a nutter. We're going to go round there and prove once and for all that our daughter shouldn't be hanging around with her."

Sarah Jane turned to Penny, Clyde and Luke. She had just dealt with Chrissie and Maria had gone round to calm her mother down and see her off.

"You three, you make quite a team." Sarah Jane remarked.

"We do, don't we?" Clyde said, putting his arms around Penny and Luke.

Penny brushed him off.

"Clyde, why don't you ring your mum and tell her you'll be staying for tea? The Viszeran Royal Fleet are passing through the solar system tonight, all six hundred ships. Only takes a few seconds, but it is the most magnificent stellar light show this side of the galaxy." Penny said.

She went upstairs to go and talk to Mr Smith.

"I'm pretty sure she makes half of this stuff up."

"She doesn't." Sarah Jane assured him and began to explain about the Royal fleet Penny had been talking about before.

Penny was up in the attic when her phone rang. She answered it with a smile.

"Hi, Maria." Penny said. "What's up?"

"Penny, you never told me, why do the Sontarans upset you so much?"

"Maria, you know how you felt today?" Penny asked. "After what the Gorgons did to you dad. The Sontarans have made me unable to stop feeling like that."

Then Penny hung up the phone and refused to answer when Maria called back.

Penny smiled as she walked into Clyde's room a few days after fighting the Gorgon. Clyde was letting her borrow a text book and, since she had seen his drawings before, he let her into his room. There were more drawings up there, a whole set of drawing equipment. It was amazing. Penny told Clyde how she felt about his room.

"It just some stuff." Clyde said with a shrug as Penny picked up a comic book page he had drawn.

"Did Luke tell you about this?" Penny asked.

Clyde nodded. It was a simple comic book pace made up of only a few panels but it showed the day they had rescued Luke, specifically when the Bane had been chasing them up the stairs and grabbed Luke with his tentacle. Even more specifically when Penny had kicked the Bane creature in the eye.

"Maria told me some too and Mr Smith showed me an image of the Bane."

"Clyde? What happens if someone realises that these are really real?" Penny asked. "What if your mum she's me kick something and recognises it from your drawing?"

"She thinks I ask you and Luke to act as real life models for my drawings."

"That's nice." Penny said. "Why does no one know you draw?"

"It's not exactly cool." Clyde said.

"Well I think it's very cool. Just try and draw less of the aliens and more stuff from this planet. You could give us away. We've already got Mrs Jackson on our trail."

* * *

Preview for the next story:

"This is my godfather, well, one of them." Penny laughed.

The man was smiling at Chrissie with the look of a practised flirt. Penny knew all to well what that smile meant and attempted to pull the man behind her.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, kiddo?" the man asked, raising his eye brows.

"Maria, Alan, Chrissie, meet Jack Harkness."

"Captain Jack Harkness." the man automatically corrected, shaking Alan's hand.

**OOOOOHHHH! ENJOY!**


	8. Genius!

Alan, Chrissie and Maria were walking through town. Maria knew it wasn't like old times but it was the closest it could ever be. She did love her new life, aliens and adventure, but her old one still held fond memories. Chrissie was moaning about her latest upsetting experience and Maria was only half listening.

"Maria? Isn't that your friend?" her dad asked, cutting off Chrissie.

He was pointing at Penny who was walking across the road with the arm of a strange man over her shoulders. The man was dressed in a grey trench coat and was young. He was also startlingly handsome.

"I thought she was planning to teach Luke to skateboard today." Alan thought aloud.

Clyde was on holiday with his mother. Luke had been a bit bored and Penny had offered to teach him skateboarding. She had brought him a skateboard and he was using an old helmet that Penny had not needed since she was nine. That was when Maria began to panic. She knew that Penny wouldn't blow off a chance to teach Luke something new for just any reason. She knew the possible danger that Penny could be in. This man could be an alien for all Maria knew.

"Dad, I've never seen that man before." Maria said.

"Neither have I." Alan replied, grimly. "Lets go talk to them."

Penny smiled at Maria as she walked over.

"Hey."

"Hello." Maria answered. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Alan, Alan Jackson." Alan said, extending his hand.

Chrissie looked annoyed but, when she caught sight of the man, she smiled and relaxed. The man had black hair, a strong jaw and striking eyes. Chrissie tried her best to make herself look pretty.

"This is my godfather, well, one of them." Penny laughed.

The man was smiling at Chrissie with the look of a practised flirt. Penny knew all to well what that smile meant and attempted to pull the man behind her.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, kiddo?" the man asked, raising his eye brows.

"Maria, Alan, Chrissie, meet Jack Harkness."

"Captain Jack Harkness." the man automatically corrected, shaking Alan's hand.

Luke was confused. Penny had got a phone call and taken off. She had told Sarah Jane where she was going but not why she was going or why in such a hurry. Luke had decided to go after her. He had walked out of the front door but Penny was long gone by the time he was out. He went back to talk to Sarah Jane.

"Where's Penny gone?" Luke asked.

"She's gone to see an old friend." Sarah Jane answered.

She was making sandwiches.

"I have a story to work on." she said. "A scientist says he's managed to invent a set of androids that are capable of acting exactly like humans. Do you want to come?"

"No." Luke said. "I would like to see Penny and try to learn skateboarding."

"Penny said she would teach you tomorrow." Sarah Jane smiled.

She saw Luke look down at the floor. Since they had fought the Gorgon, Penny had been busy, leaving Luke to entertain himself. He had spent a lot of time with Maria when Maria wasn't with Penny. Clyde had been away so Sarah Jane could understand how Luke wanted to spend time with his friends. "What about Maria?"

"Her mum is in town so she's gone shopping with them and Mr Jackson." Luke grumbled. "Okay, Luke, I'm going to tell you where Penny has gone and you can go but the person I'm guessing she's meeting up with is a bit... Hard to handle so..."

"Be good?" Luke suggested.

"Be on your guard." Sarah Jane corrected, writing down the name of a café.

Penny and Jack were sitting in the café they had planned to meet up in. Penny noticed with a frown as Chrissie tried to convince Alan and Maria to come into the café so she could flirt with Jack. Penny had got her God-father out of there before it had gotten too bad but now...

"We need to investigate a company called X-tech."

"Why?" Penny asked.

"Look at these." Jack said, producing a series of files. "Torchwood has been investigating these for months and have managed to track these down to X-tech."

"Missing people?" Penny exclaimed, seeing the link between the files.

"More than just that, very intelligent missing people. Possibly geniuses."

"And they all link back to X-tech. They were all taken the same week there was an X-tech exhibition in the area."

Jack then produced another set of files and placed them on the table in front of Penny. She opened the files and looked at them. They were on blue paper and seemed to be showing human shaped robots.

"Are these plans?" Penny said, studying the new files.

"No, they're anatomical maps." Jack said.

"But these are robots." Penny replied.

"That's what they look like. They aren't. They're aliens made of living metal. They are called Reckia and I think they're on Earth. They would appear human probably, have some sort of covering on them or cloaking device so they can blend in."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Living metal makes them unbelievably strong. They are always looking for ways to advance themselves by either tricking or kidnapping geniuses."

Penny was thankful Luke was still at home. She didn't want him to be kidnapped by the Reckia.

"And these work for X-tech?"

"X-tech work for them. X-tech was created by Michael Robinson – a genius who's ideas were... the norm for geniuses. Now he's producing tools like he's ten times the genius he was."

"So Reckia have him kidnapping geniuses and letting him use them to make tools while they use them to update themselves." Penny managed.

She looked at the files.

"Why are you here then?" she asked. "If Torchwood is doing so well on the case?"

"X-tech is on an exhibition in London. They are going to set up a factory here and..."

"Kidnappings." Penny said gravely.

Jack nodded. Penny put the files down and sat back. She loved the company of her God-father. She trusted him and always felt like she could talk easily around him. Brigadier was her other real God-father (she counted the Doctor as a God-father despite him not really being one). When they talked it was usually in UNIT and that meant Penny could never be sure if UNIT were listening in.

"How do they know if they've found a genius? It's not like all geniuses wear badges or something."

"They monitor brainwaves." Jack said. "They have scanners in their hands that mean they can sense the brainwaves on contact. Geniuses have more brainwaves or something."

"So how can we stop the Reckia?" Penny asked.

"Using these." Jack said, putting a few bullets on the table.

"No guns, Jack!" Penny said.

"You sound like your mother."

"You sound like a small child." Penny snapped back. "No guns."

"That's the feisty Penny I'm used to."

Penny picked up the bullets of the table and tucked them into her pocket.

"EMP."

"What?" Jack asked, as he looked back from staring at a pretty female waitress.

"Living metal should be affected by EMPs."

"But guns are more fun." Jack remarked.

"No guns!" Penny moaned.

"Guns mean we don't have to go undercover." Jack said.

"I went undercover as a nun while fighting a Gorgon. I don't mind whatever I have to go undercover as."

"Great, because you have to pretend to be my PA." Jack said and got up.

Penny frowned, unsure what to do. She then stopped frowning, smirked and stood up. She got up and walked over to Jack. She past Maria on the way, gave her a nod and then watched as she walked away with her family.

Luke got to the café minutes after Jack and Penny had left. He walked inside and then slammed into a girl his age. She was holding a drink and spilt it right down his front. Luke looked down his front with a frown and then smiled at the girl.

"Hello." he said.

"Hi." she replied. "Oh, look, it's all down your front. Let me clean it up for you."

"It's okay. I'm looking for my sister. She's got..."

"Why are you looking for her?" the girl asked, steering Luke towards a chair.

"She went to meet a friend and I was bored so. My name is Luke."

"My name is Natalie." the girl said.

"Nice to meet you, Natalie." Luke said. "My sister would have been meeting up with someone. Someone probably a bit older than her. They would have talked about... I don't know, aliens?"

"Robots?" Natalie tried. "There was a girl and a man sitting over there discussing robots and X-tech."

"X-tech?"

"Technology company. Have you been living under a rock or something?"

"Been busy." Luke replied. "What were they discussing?"

Luke could sense adventure in the air. When his sister discussed something strange, it normally meant she was working on something big. "Robots, some sort of alien robots? Must be bad."

"You never know." Luke smirked.

Natalie frowned and then looked at Luke. She studied the stain on his shirt and then confused to try and brush it off. As she did, she brushed against Luke's arm. The moment her hand brushed against Luke's arm, her eyes lit up. She smiled and looked at him.

"Luke, you seem like a bright boy, can you help me with a little problem?"

Luke looked nervous. Sarah Jane and Penny had told him not to talk to strangers after the nun incident but he knew Natalie's name and she knew his. She seemed like a nice girl. Luke didn't think he should be scared of her.

"Okay." he said and let Natalie lead the way out of the café.

Sarah Jane smiled as Maria walked into the attic.

"I saw Penny in town. She's with this guy called Harkness, Captain Jack Harkness." Maria announced.

Sarah Jane had been talking to Mr Smith, the X-tech logo on the screen. The reporter turned and smiled.

"Of course she is. It was either him or the Brig and the Brig tends to drop in and say hello." Sarah Jane said. "Do you want to help me on a story, Maria?"

"A normal story or an alien one?"

"Normal. A company called X-tech are setting up a factory here in Ealing and they are hosting an exhibition of all their inventions. They've invited top journalists along. Penny normally comes with me on these sorts of things but she's out with her God-father and Luke is trying to join them so..."

"Nice to know I was you first choice." Maria said slowly, meaning it as a joke.

Sarah Jane looked hurt so Maria took it back.

"How was your day shopping?" Sarah Jane asked, heading towards the door with Maria.

"Dull as dishwater. Would I be wrong for hoping for some excitement today?"

Penny watched as Jack walked out dressed in a smart suit. He had his winning smile plastered across his face and nodded towards Penny. Penny, herself, was dressed in a black pinstriped business suit with a skirt instead of her usual trousers. Her hair was up and she looked a lot older than the thirteen she really was. Jack smiled and handed her a clipboard with a few pieces of paper on.

"So, I'm the rich owner of Murry Business Limited – Jack Murry. I'm looking to invest in X-tech. You're my PA and sectary – Penny Olivers. We've worked together since you left university. I hired you and we have a good working relationship." Jack informed Penny.

He had told her it before but he was simply clarifying.

"You know what you have to look for, right?"

"Anyone who seems to be mind controlled, enslaved or too young to be working there. Look for anyone who has strange habits and scan for alien life-forms using the device you gave me." Penny replied.

She produced a device that Jack had given her from her back pocket and checked the display.

"Must be broken." she muttered just loud enough for Jack to hear.

"Why?"

"It isn't picking you up as alien." Penny smirked, sticking out her tongue.

Jack laughed and put his arm around her shoulders.

"If you keep being cheeky, I'll get that friend of yours to do it. What was her name? Mary? May?"

"Maria." Penny said. "She helps me and mum fight aliens."

"So how did you meet?"

"Remember Bubble Shock?" Penny asked.

Jack nodded. He hadn't liked it but Bubble Shock had come to Cardiff. Lots of people had been affected.

"She helped us stop it." Penny replied. "How are we going to get to the X-tech exhibition? I'm guessing you have fake IDs but we're going to need a car or something."

"Yeah. Torchwood actually pays pretty good expenses."

"Really?" Penny said. "You brought a car."

"Yeah. I wasn't going to take the train up here for crying out loud and they won't let me take one of ours."

The two walked out of the shop they had gotten changed in the changing rooms of and Penny looked around. Then she saw a red sports car on the other side of the road.

"Is that yours?"

"I told you. I'm a rich business owner. I have to have a flashy car."

Luke followed Natalie through the streets.

"What is this little problem?" Luke asked.

"It's a homework problem." Natalie asnwered.

She kept answering in a vague way but Luke didn't mind. Natalie seemed very nice and she was paying him attention which was better than his other friends.

"So do you and your sister talk about aliens a lot?" Natalie asked.

"Yes." Luke answered. He didn't like lying and it wasn't like he was giving away the gang's every secret.

"Have you ever seen aliens?" Natalie inquired, half dragging Luke down the street.

Luke was fast becoming aware that they were heading away from the main and crowded streets. They were heading into the alleyways of London. He wanted to pull back but he liked the adventure and he was more than qualified to help someone with their homework.

"No." Luke lied, uncomfortably.

Sarah Jane had told him to answer that way if he was ever asked by anyone outside of the gang unless she said otherwise. It was safer that way.

"But has your sister?"

Natalie turned to Luke and raised her eye brows quizzically. Luke frowned. He wanted to find Penny now. He didn't like the fact that the girl kept asking him about aliens and about Penny. He knew Penny would have been talking about aliens but not so anyone would notice. Natalie probably knew more than she was letting on.

Sarah Jane and Maria were lead in by a pretty young secretary. She lead them into the stylish office of Mr Robinson – the owner of X-tech.

"I was under the impression that there would be other journalists for the exhibition." Sarah Jane said after the introductions were made. "Is it just me, Mr Robinson?"

"Please, call me Michael." the handsome, if slightly older, man said, falling into a relaxed posture. "I am a strong believer in the personal touch, Miss Smith. I believe in allowing journalists the chance to conduct interviews alone. The other journalists have, Miss Smith. You were the last here so have the last interview."

"How considerate." Sarah Jane remarked. "I have some questions about you, Michael."

"Please, ask away."

"How does it feel to own one of the most successful companies in the UK? I mean it's not like the things X-tech comes up with can be described as anything less than genius."

"I spent my youth thinking, Miss Smith, much like your young friend is spending her time learning your skills. Many of the things I have created were thought up then." Michael said with an air of self importance.

Maria didn't like it. Luke could probably out think the millionaire even on his worst day and yet he managed to stay down to Earth.

"And yet so many people are willing to invest." Sarah Jane said.

"Yes, they are. Exhibitions like this show off the great starting points we have. People see potential and they invest."

"But you are soon to be considered one of the cleverest men in the UK." Maria said.

She had met people like Michael before. You could always get the most answers out of them if you flattered them. Sarah Jane smiled at her young assistant's idea.

"Have you got any tips for anyone thinking of starting up their own company?" Sarah Jane asked. "Since you must be one of the most successful people in that field."

"Just try your hardest and..."

There was a bleeping sound from the intercom. Michaels apologised and pressed the button. His receptionists happy tones sounded.

"Mr Robinson, a Jack Murry is here to see you about possibly investing."

"Okay. Can you send him in?" Michael said.

He turned to Sarah Jane.

"I'm sorry to cut this interview short but some of the investors don't like to be kept waiting. If you believe you need any more, you know where to contact me." he said and had his receptionist lead them out to the main exhibition.

Then the other door to the office opened and Penny and Jack walked in. Michael smiled and stood up, clasping Jack's hand as he shook it.

"So you must be Mr Murry and this must be your wife..."

"We're not married." Penny said quickly.

"Of course you aren't. So what exactly are you?"

"I'm Mr Murry's PA."

"I can't leave home without her. Seriously. She carries my house keys." Jack joked, taking a seat.

"So, Mr Murry, you're here about investing."

"Yes." Jack said. "I was reading about your company and how many genius inventions you have and I was thinking, that there must be some sort of think tank round here I could invest into."

"A think tank?"

"Yes, a collective group of geniuses who pool their idea to create things." Penny said quickly.

It was a reaction from dealing with Luke. If there was a phrase he didn't understand, Penny would automatically explain it to him.

"I understand what it means, Miss..."

"Miss Olivers, Penny Olivers." Penny said, extending her hand.

"Perhaps your PA would like to schedule some more meetings while we talk." Michael said.

_Well done, Penny, hit the raw nerve of the big headed genius. Get yourself out of the interview so you can look around._ Jack thought, really proud of his God-daughter.

Penny looked a bit annoyed as she stood up to leave. Jack offered her a nod to tell her that what she was doing was a right thing. Penny then left the room, scanning Michael as she went. He came up clean. Jack turned back to Michael.

"I want to inform you that we don't have a think tank. I am the genius behind all the inventions X-tech has come up with."

"Then you are one of the most brilliant people on the planet." Jack exclaimed. "I would love to invest in your company. Of course there is a matter of looking around and getting a real taste of what I will be investing into."

"Well, I have an exhibition on today, you could join and then I could show you around the new factory complex."

"Come on, Luke!" Natalie called, turning a corner.

Luke didn't want to follow Natalie but he wanted something to do and Penny and Maria were both busy.

"I'm coming." Luke called.

Then he turned the corner. Natalie was standing near a X-tech van.

"Um... What's that?" Luke asked.

"It's a van." Natalie answered with a shrug. "There's something inside I want you to take a look at."

Luke had been told not to get into strange vans but he hadn't been told not to look inside them and he was really interested.

"Open it up then." Luke said.

Natalie opened it up and Luke looked inside, amazed at what he saw.

"That's a robot!" Luke exclaimed. "A real robot."

"Yeah. I found it and it attacked me and I need someone to help me deal with it."

"Can you bring it out?" Luke asked.

"No, sorry." Natalie said.

"Is it from X-tech?" Luke wondered, remembering the side of the van.

"You could say that." Natalie smirked, reaching towards Luke.

Luke turned away and told Natalie that he was going to pay X-tech a visit.

Maria watched as Sarah Jane examined the inventions that lined the room. They were all very impressive. Most of them looked like stuff that would come out of Luke's head.

"Who invented these?" Maria asked.

"If we're to believe him, and I don't, Robinson." Sarah Jane said. "So who?" Maria inquired. "And why don't you believe him?"

"Because no one on the planet would be as dumb as he is and invent all this stuff." Sarah Jane answered.

Maria couldn't help but notice that she hadn't answered her first question.

"So what are we going to do?" Maria asked, already watching as Sarah Jane produced her sonic.

"A bit of investigating."

Sarah Jane soniced an official looking door that lead out of the room and then walked through it, Maria following behind.

Seconds later, Jack entered, trailing Michael. Jack had his hand on his scanner, checking for aliens. It kept coming up blank.

"As you can see, the ideas produced by X-tech are really something else. They are the future."

"But I want to see behind the scenes." Jack said, scanning the journalists. "Your exhibition is good but everyone does things like this. I want to see the real X-tech."

Jack wondered how Penny was getting on. The girl had her mother's ability to get answers out of people but X-tech had managed to operate under Torchwood's radar for quite some time. They had no proof that these Reckia worked with X-tech, just a very big hunch.

Michael gave an irritated growl and then smiled.

"If you want to see 'behind the scenes' then behind the scenes you will see." he smiled.

Penny was getting annoyed. The receptionist seemed as suspicious as her as she was of it. The woman was refusing to let Penny reach into her pocket and scan her.

"So, you believe Mr Murry will want other appointments?" the receptionist inquired.

"Yes. He's been very interested in this company for quite some time but he just feels like something is _missing._"

Penny was employing a tactic she had seen her mother use many times during interviews. She used words that linked to what she was investigating to make the interviewee become worried and slip up.

"How interesting." the receptionist remarked in a dry tone.

"He's just impressed by the way that Mr Robinson comes up with so many ideas – almost as if he has other geniuses working for him."

Penny knew that was pushing it. She knew that was probably a step too far and got that from the receptionist's reaction.

"Miss Olivers, if what you are saying is true then you have just walked into the base of someone who manages to kidnap geniuses without barely anyone noticing. I'm pretty sure it would be pretty easy to make you disappear." "I wasn't saying that." Penny smirked, leaning back.

She looked at the receptionist's glare and then decided to make a quick escape before she really was in trouble. She thanked the receptionist for her time, said she would be in touch and then left to find her 'boss'. As she walked down the corridor, she ducked into a doorway and got ready to scan the receptionist. Suddenly someone began to walk down the corridor.

_Lets hope they aren't Reckia, from what Jack said, I don't want to be hunted down by them._

When Penny was the approaching person, she knew it wasn't a Reckia but it did little to calm her down.

_Luke? What's he doing here? I thought he was at home with mum._ Penny thought. _He's..._

Luke walked up to the receptionist and smiled.

"Hello, my name's Luke. It's nice to meet you. I'm here to see the person in charge." Luke said.

The receptionist looked at him drily. She was clearly bored. Then Penny's device bleeped. She realised that the receptionist was Reckia.

_Don't you dare touch my brother._ Penny mentally threatened.

The receptionist went to lead Luke into the office and touched his arm. The receptionist turned to Luke with a smile.

"I think he's in here, Luke." the receptionist said, leading Luke away.

Penny began to follow them, worried about her brother.

Sarah Jane and Maria heard voices coming towards them as they wondered through the white walled corridors. They could see locked doors with blacked out windows. Sarah Jane walked over to one of the doors and aimed her sonic at it. The black veil disappeared and Sarah Jane could see a young woman inside it, working on a high tech device. The woman seemed completely focused on her work, even when Sarah Jane tapped on the glass.

"What's happened to her?" Maria asked.

"No time." Sarah Jane said, unlocking the door with her sonic and hurrying inside.

The black veil appeared when they closed the door and Sarah Jane and Maria listened by it.

"As you can see, Jack, this place is full of the greatest labs known to man, each one containing my on going inventions." a voice, that the two recognised as Michael, said.

"Can I look inside?" another voice, recognised as Jack, asked.

"Of course not. It's for security. Thousands of people want to steal my inventions." Michael replied.

They passed the door and Sarah Jane turned to Maria. She didn't try the door, instead turning to white coated woman.

"She's a scientist." Maria said.

"Yes, but she didn't react when we came in."

"Has she been..." Maria took a moment to take in the mazing thing she was suggesting. "Hypnotised to work for Michael."

"I think so." Sarah Jane said.

She walked over to the woman but didn't stop her from working. Then Sarah Jane pulled out her phone and called up Mr Smith.

"I'm going to send you a photo, Mr Smith, scan it and see if the person has been reported missing."

Sarah Jane took a photo and sent it to Mr Smith. The reply took a few seconds to come.

"The woman's name is Sasha Walters, she was reported missing four months ago but no one has made attempts at following her since she reportedly moved away to join a think tank."

"So she was kidnapped, by this Robinson guy." Maria exclaimed.

"I believe so." Mr Smith said.

"And she was kidnapped because he needs geniuses."

Mr Smith agreed with Maria's suggestion.

"Maria, call up Luke and tell him to stay away from anything to do with X-tech." Sarah Jane said, slightly distracted.

Luke's phone began to ring in his pocket but he didn't answer it. He looked down and saw it was Maria's number. He wanted to prove that he could do this on his own. He followed the receptionist as she lead him down white walled corridors.

Behind the two, Penny followed, hidden in the shadows. She kept her eye protectively on Luke. Se didn't like what was happening one bit.

"So, Luke, you're an intelligent boy, what do you think of the place?" the receptionist asked.

"I think it's dull." Luke said, slowly.

"Why do you think that?" she asked.

Luke thought about it for a moment. He was used to the beautiful chaos of the attic and how every tool had it's own place but they were never defined or marked, just remembered. Everything else seemed dull compared to the attic.

"Everything's so white." Luke settled on.

Penny watched the group but, behind her, someone had their eyes drilling into the back of her head.

"He's not answering." Maria pointed out.

Sarah Jane sighed. After the incident with the nuns, she was rather worried about Luke. Penny had been used against her lots as the girl had grown up. Penny's existence had become common knowledge when Penny had been four and for almost ten years the girl had been kidnapped, attacked and generally threatened as a way of getting to Sarah Jane. Now Penny had proved to be very competent when it came to aliens and Luke very naïve, it was Luke who became the victim more often then not.

"Try Penny." Sarah Jane said, studying the scientist.

Luke recognised the ring tone of his sister's phone. He frowned, hoping that the receptionist possibly had the same ringtone. He felt his heart sink when he saw that the receptionist was scanning the room for the origin of the noise. That was when there was the sound of a struggle, before Penny was lead out of the shadows by a familiar girl. Luke wasn't sure which one to be shocked about, his sister's presence or Natalie's.

"Penny?"

"Luke, we need to get out of here, they're aliens." Penny said. "Aliens who have a habit of kidnapping genius."

"What?"

Luke was highly confused as Natalie pushed his sister forwards. Suddenly the receptionist gripped Luke's arm in a horribly strong hold.

"Oh, and I thought our cover was so good. What gave it away?"

"The unexplained kidnappings and this." Penny said, reaching into her pocket and producing the scanner Jack gave her.

Natalie snatched it off her and trod on it. Luke looked down and saw a distinct lack of wiring inside the device.

"Really shouldn't have done that." Penny winced.

"Why?" Natalie asked.

"Because Jack gave me that and he doesn't like people standing on his stuff."

Luke sighed at his sister and how calm she really was. He looked at the receptionist and frowned.

"So what are you going to do with us, because, as much as I love standing around, we're going to escape, sooner or later."

"Lets take them to the Central Chamber. We can hypnotise the boy and find out what the girl knows."

"Um, not thanks, on both accounts." Penny shouted, suddenly pulling away and producing a handful of wiring. "Cause, I'm a genius, well, nearly. I can build stuff though. This is an EMP – a home-made electro-magnetic pulse emitter. I know this will work on you because I've seen the plans. Now, let me and my brother and anyone else you've taken prisoner go and leave our planet."

The receptionist released Luke and Luke studied the device Penny was holding.

"Penny..."

"Not now, Luke."

"But Penny..." Luke moaned.

"Luke, shut up." Penny said, backing away with her brother behind her.

She knew what Luke was going to say and wanted to put some distance between them and the Reckia.

"Penny, that isn't going to make an EMP, it's a jumble of wires from the scanner Jack gave you." Luke pointed out.

The two Reckia smiled and moved closer.

"Yeah." Penny said, dropping the wires. "Now we run."

Natalie and the receptionist glanced at each other. Natalie began to chase after them, while the receptionist pulled out a radio.

"Mr Robinson, we have a situation, two children know. Should I pursue?"

Jack watched as Michael talked into a radio. The millionaire was jumpy about something and the Torchwood agent wanted to know what. He edged closer, trying to listen to the radio conversation. Michaels put the radio down and turned to Jack with a cruel smile.

"It seems like your little partner knows what we're up to." Michael said and raised a weapon.

Sarah Jane and Maria crept out of the room and scanned the corridor. They guessed that each room housed a kidnapped genius.

"Penny didn't answer either." Maria reported.

Sarah Jane was beginning to get worried. Luke not answering could mean he was busy. Penny not answering could mean she was working on a case with her old friend. Both not answering meant something big was happening.

"I think there are aliens involved in this." Sarah Jane said, slowly.

"Do you ever work on a story which has no aliens in it?" Maria asked.

"Not really." Sarah Jane reported with a smile. "We need to find Penny and Luke."

They turned a corner and saw Jack standing in the corridor, a gun being pointed at him.

"That's Jack Harkness." Maria said.

"You know him?" Sarah Jane hissed back, examining the situation.

"He was with Penny this morning."

Michael was circling Jack, asking him questions and not getting answers.

"How did you know what was going on here?" Michael asked.

"A hunch." Jack growled back.

"But you must have tools, something that lead you to believe something was up."

"You're hiring aliens to bring you geniuses, it's not hard to see something is up." Jack spat.

"And yet you refuse to show me how clever you've been. Maybe your younger partner will be more open to answering questions."

"You leave her alone!" Jack growled, moving towards Michael.

Michael pointed the gun at Jack but Jack didn't care. He couldn't die so he didn't see any reason to worry about being shot by the man. If it saved Penny then.

"Have you caught her yet?" Michael asked.

"After them now."

Maria and Sarah Jane looked at each other.

'Them?' Maria mouthed, surprised.

It was at that Sarah Jane had had enough. She walked out, surprising Michael. Maria followed.

"Mr Robinson, I do hope this is not how you treat all your visitors." Sarah Jane said, looking at Jack.

"Come on, Sarah Jane, we both know I'm special."

"Jack, behave." Sarah Jane told him. "You're hunting down a young girl right, probably went by the name of Penny."

"Yes, her and a boy called Luke Smith." Michael said, with pride.

Jack and Maria both hung back, unsure of how Michael and Sarah Jane would react as they faced each other. Sarah Jane seemed remarkably calm but Michael was the one with the gun – the one they were really worried about.

"Are you aware that those two happen to be my children?"

"I was not. Are you aware that your son is a genius? A genius we have cornered along with his sister in the Central Chamber?"

"I was not." Sarah Jane stopped and smiled. Jack and Maria smiled to, knowing Sarah Jane had a plan.

"Take us to the Central Chamber."

Neither Smith child would ever be sure when Natalie dropped her human form and showed her true robotic origins. They both agreed it was during the chase, but that was all. They had started off being chased by Natalie but, when they had gone into hiding under the desks of a large bright, white, circular lab, they were confronted with the metallic feet of the Reckia. Luke was hiding behind one desk, Penny was hiding behind the other. There was a large, dentist's chair in the centre of the room surrounded by the two crescent desks. On the walls, there were glass panels, each one leading to a small alcove which houses a sleeping Reckia.

"I know you're here." Natalie taunted.

Neither Smith child replied as she walked into the centre of the room.

"You two have actually ran to the exact location we were going to take you."

Penny slipped out her phone and set it on silent. Then, under the tiny crack of the desk, she saw Luke, asking for her to give him her phone. She hoped she could slid it across the floor unnoticed. She managed it.

"It's not like you two have very many places to hide." she remarked. "Why don't you just come out?" Luke began to strip back the panels on Penny's phone. He knew he would need to get to some more wire but that could come later. Both the Smith stayed silent.

"Now, you are both clearly very intelligent, cunning to say the least. Did you know that the hypnotising upgrade came from Michael Robinson himself? He first found one of us getting ourselves fixed by a mechanic and managed to hypnotise the mechanic into forgetting us. We had it installed. However, geniuses tend to be able to resist the hypnosis, that's what the chair is for, strapping them down while we can work."

Luke looked under the desk again and silently asked Penny to distract Natalie. Penny nodded.

"You got any other upgrades?" Penny asked. "The plans I saw were clearly out of date. They said nothing about mind control."

Penny stood up and Luke moved towards a control panel just below one of the sleeping Reckia. Natalie was distracted by Penny, walking towards the girl.

"Hello." Penny said. "Have you been upgraded to be horribly boring as well? Because it's working... Seriously it is."

Penny gave a fake yawn, and Natalie walked closer, pressing her hand against Penny's neck. The hand suddenly folded in on itself and a gun appeared.

"A very ingenious idea. The bullets are fed into us and stored inside our bodies."

"Evolution designed by lesser species." Penny murmured. "Interesting."

"Very." Natalie said.

She turned away from Penny but kept the gun trained on Penny's neck.

"Come out now, Luke, otherwise your first job when you're hypnotised will be cleaning up the girl's remains."

Luke was considering standing up. He was halfway through his work but someone else could make it and he needed to save Penny. That was when Sarah Jane and the others walked in, followed by Michael and the receptionist. Penny used it as a distraction. She swung her leg into the bends of Natalie's metal knees and ignored the pain that it flagged up. Natalie fell to the floor and Penny glared at Michael and the receptionist.

"Don't have to be a genius to defeat a robot." Penny said.

Jack smiled and walked towards Penny. Sarah Jane rushed over and hugged her daughter. Maria joined them. Michael and the receptionist stood in the doorway, blocking their escape.

"Where's Luke?" Sarah Jane whispered into Penny's ear, while they hugged.

It was quiet enough that Michael and the receptionist couldn't hear it.

"Under the far desk." Penny whispered back. "Working on an EMP." Sarah Jane nodded as she pulled away from her daughter. She turned back to Michael.

"You know that everything is is over for you." Sarah Jane said. "We've won."

"Really? You're trapped in a room with only one door that me and an alien from outer space are blocking, surrounded by aliens that will wake up if needed, if no weapons and a missing genius." Michael said.

"Only he's not missing." Natalie smirked, pulling Luke to his feet.

Penny glanced down at the ground and realised that Natalie must have heard their exchange.

"And he's actually building an EMP, not just using a handful of wires as a bluff."

Jack raised his eye brow and glanced at Penny. It was clear that the comment had been for her.

"Happens." Penny whispered to Maria as she received another questioning look.

"Just get the boy in the chair and hypnotise him." Michael ordered.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." Luke said. "I've sent the EMP pulse to fry every machine in this building and I've put it on a timer. If you put me in that machine, half way through the process, the EMP will go off and fry all of you Reckia, then my friends will simply be able to round you up and sent you on your way."

Sarah Jane grinned at how brave Luke was being. It was a risky plan but it seemed like it couldn't fail. Luke handed Natalie the EMP.

"I'll tell you how to deactivate it if you let me and my friends go." Luke said.

"Okay." Michael agreed, lowering his weapon.

"Just press the two cut wires together." Luke answered simply.

Michael raised his weapon as Natalie moved to put the two wires together.

"For a genius you really are stupid, put the boy in the machine. He's lost his only card."

The EMP went off and then the lights flickered. Luke smiled. The two Reckia fell to the floor, seemingly dazed.

"Oh, wait, did I just tell you how to set it off?" he asked.

Michael looked around shell shocked and Jack arrested him. Sarah Jane smiled and began to walk away.

"Are you lot going to stay and help clean up?" Jack asked.

"No. That's Torchwood business." Sarah Jane laughed back, shepherding the children out of the door.

"Penny? You want to work for Torchwood, what about some work experience?" Jack called.

"I currently work for UNIT." Penny called back. "I don't think they'd be very happy if I started training for Torchwood!"

**This was going to be longer but my computer is dying so...**

**Next up it's the Warriors of Kudlak!**


	9. Warriors of Kudlak part 1

Hey, hello. Yay 13 here.

Disclaimer: I own Penny but not the rest of the gang.

Please review!

* * *

The room was dark. The only light came from the computer screens in front of the creature. A teenaged boy vanished from the screen. The creature smiled.

"Mistress, I bring you another."

"Bring me more. I need more. Many more children!" the creature's mistress hissed back over one of the screens.

"It shall be done, Mistress." the creature replied with a slight bow of it's head.

Clyde was telling Luke, Penny and Maria about his holiday as he walked down the road. He was telling them about the beaches and how much fun he had had. Luke, Penny and Maria had neglected to inform him about what had happened at X-tech. They were walking down the street when Luke piped up with a joke.

"At breakfast times, I am so hungry, I could murder a bowl of cornflakes. Does that make me a cereal killer?"

He waited for the others to laugh but Penny and Clyde both winced and Maria just smiled, trying to comfort Luke.

"You're not laughing." he pointed out.

"It wasn't very funny." Penny explained.

"But I've been studying jokes, their structure and history. And that's what you do, you swap words around, so that was a joke."

"Well, I don't think it'll get you on the telly but, yeah, I guess."

"So what makes a joke funny? I've read timing's important. How, exactly?"

Luke turned to Clyde with a frown. He looked at him, trying to search for some sort of clue on how to be funny.

"It's complicated. Only a few people master the art." Clyde said.

"It's just a pity that that few people don't include him." Penny smirked.

"Is the context important?" Luke inquired.

All the teenagers shrugged, knowing that if one of them didn't end the discussion soon then they would have to answer Luke's questions all the way home. It wasn't that they found the questions annoying. It was just that Luke had a way of asking questions about things that were just natural, like why Penny moaned when asked to reach the remote even if it was right next to her or why Maria and her dad, and Penny and Clyde, insulted each other but didn't take offence.

"Why does every single thing with you lead to about five hundred questions? Come on, I want to get a new bag." Maria said, hooking arms with Luke and leading him down the street.

She was answered with a series of moans.

"But you've got lots of bags." Luke protested.

"You can never have enough bags."

"Another I don't understand." Luke grumbled.

"Don't worry, you're a guy, you're not supposed to." Clyde said.

"I don't understand it either." Penny pointed out.

Luke stopped to stare at a poster while the others walked on. The poster showed a group of teenagers each armed with futuristic guns standing in a triangle as explosions and laser blasts filled the air around them. At the top, in big lettering, was the words: Combat 3000. Luke was about to catch up with the others when a man walked up behind him.

"What do you reckon, soldier? Do you think you're man enough to have a go?" the man asked Luke in a grand tone.

Luke thought about it for a second and then looked down.

"I have to go shopping." Luke admitted.

He wanted nothing more for his friends to come back and get the man to leave him alone. In Luke's mind, a conversation with a stranger had so many variables that he didn't enjoy them. The man scoffed.

"That's kind of answered my question." he sniggered.

Penny returned back to stand by her brother's side and glared at the man in a protective way. She put a hand on Luke's shoulder and told him to come with her.

"There you go. Cut price vouchers, in case you change your mind." the man said quickly, forcing a set of leaflets into Luke's hands.

Penny managed to intensify her glare but said thank you.

"What was that all about?" Maria asked as they returned.

"Look." Penny said, handing Maria one of the leaflets.

The man followed the teenagers with a glare. He spat out his gum on the pavement and then disappeared into Combat 3000.

The man walked into his office and threw down the remaining leaflets. They landed on the desk in the centre of the room. The leather chair that was at the desk was facing the other way but the man talked to it anyway.

"Posters are up. I'm doing a local radio piece at three, and I've given the half price tickets to a street team to shift. You wait, Mister Kudlak. The last few weeks' takings will be nothing compared to what we've got coming. Oh, guess what? We got a birthday party shoot-'em-up booked in for tomorrow!" the man said, sounding as cheery as possible.

Suddenly the chair was spun round and a large bug-eyed creature glared at the man.

"I grow tired of your talk, Mister Grantham. Just bring me children!"

Sarah Jane never liked stories like the one she was working on. Even before she had met the Doctor, there had still been a horrible feeling inside her as she investigated them and now, having two children, it drove home how badly the parents felt during kidnapping or missing children cases. Sarah Jane didn't have to imagine the worry, Penny had been kidnapped enough and it seemed that Luke was going down a similar path.

"This is Lance." the mother of the missing child said, handing Sarah Jane a photo of her missing teenaged son.

Sarah Jane looked at the photo with all the compassion in the world. The boy was smiling, happy, and it was clear the mother was devastated to lose him.

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Metcalf. I can't begin to imagine what the last three days have been like. Are you coping?"

Mrs Metcalf nodded slowly but more tears trickled down her cheeks.

"I keep thinking my head's going to break. That's what it feels like. I'm on edge every minute, thinking that he'll walk up the path or the police will knock on the door and tell me..."

She trailed off but Sarah Jane could understand why. She dreaded to think of what would happen if it was one of her children who had disappeared without a trace and she was helpless to do anything.

"Children do turn up safe and sound. There's still every chance. Someone may have seen something important without even knowing it. My story might make them realise that and come forward." Sarah Jane assured her.

The mother managed to agreed and Sarah Jane inquired if something might have possibly made Lance want to run away.

"We never argue. Me and Lance, we've only got each other now. We know that life's too short for rowing."

The mother's eyes settled on a photo of her son and late husband. Sarah Jane had done her research. Lance's father had been in the army and had been killed in action. It was really only Lance and his mother. Sarah Jane managed a nod. She understood how hard it was for the person you loved to die in such a way. Penny's father had suffered a similar fate.

"Perhaps you could tell me what happened on Saturday."

"Nothing happened. Only Lance never came back. He was going out to meet his friend Brandon. They were going down the arcade. He lives for his video games. Only Brandon never saw him on Saturday. Lance never showed up. He just vanished into thin air. Help me get my boy back, Miss Smith, please? Please." the mother all but begged.

Sarah Jane silently made a vow she would.

Sarah Jane had returned to the attic to do work, only to find that the four teenagers were there and making a lot of noise. Clyde was spinning Maria's new bag round while Penny tried to snatch it off him and Maria and Luke laughed from the sidelines.

"Do you mind?" Sarah Jane asked when the noise got too much.

"Sorry, Sarah Jane." Clyde said quickly, speaking for the whole group.  
"Clyde and Penny were just bugging around with Maria's new bag."

"I'm sorry?" Sarah Jane said, completely confused.

"Mucking!" Penny exclaimed. "We were mucking around."

"Or messing, you know? Messing around? You've got to listen to the words, Luke. They're important in slang. You can't improvise." Clyde added to confuse Luke further.

Maria saw Sarah Jane's helpless look and decided she had to help her.

"We'll get out of your way." Maria said, already reaching for Luke's arm.  
"No, wait. I've been to see the mother of that boy who went missing. Your friend, Lance Metcalfe, what do you know about him?"

The teenagers looked at each other until Clyde spoke up.

"Friend? Don't get me wrong, Sarah Jane, I hope he's okay, but the Corporal's only been at our school a couple of months, and he's not really been up for making friends."

"The Corporal?" Sarah Jane repeated incredulously.

"Lance. Lance Corporal."

"And did you know his father was in the army? Was killed in Iraq? Nicknames aren't always funny, Clyde. Yeah, well, I hope this boy didn't run away because he was bullied." Sarah Jane found herself snapping.

Clyde put his hands up in his defence and said it wasn't him. Sarah Jane didn't think it would be Maria, she didn't seem like the kind of person to give strangers nicknames, and it wouldn't be Penny – not after... Her gaze settled on her son just as Clyde confessed it was Luke.

"People laughed when I came up with it. I thought that was good." Luke moaned, sounding on the verge of tears.

Sarah Jane's heart strings were pulled but she also felt angry that the joke could have been what lead to Lance going missing.

"It wasn't Luke's fault. No one knew about Lance's dad. He didn't tell anyone. He didn't have much to do with any of us." Maria tried.

"He was too busy with his Nintendo." Penny added.

"But I made a joke out of his name. I hurt him. Maybe Lance wanted friends just like I did. Instead, I probably made him run away." Luke whimpered.

His gaze frittered over everyone and the whole group could see the tears in his eyes. Luke stood up to leave.

"Oh no, Luke, you..." Sarah Jane tried but Luke wasn't going to listen.

He shouted about it was all his fault and then left the room, thundering down the stairs.

"I'd better go and talk to him." Sarah Jane said slowly and quietly.

"No, let me. I did drop him in it." Clyde replied.

He left and Penny said she would go after him, feeling a bit guilty about it. Sarah Jane sighed and sat down, a bit defeated. Maria looked at her. Sarah Jane had raised Penny with little help and Penny was an intelligent and well-brought up girl but she was different to Luke. She understood the challenges more and had learnt about social conventions slowly and throughout her childhood where mistakes were accepted. Luke was possibly learning everything at the worse time.

"Is he finding it hard to fit in?"

"No harder than I am." Maria assured her. "Penny and Clyde will talk to him. He'll be alright."  
Maria could still see guilt in Sarah Jane's eyes and decided that she had to do something about it. She changed the subject.

"How's Lance's mum?" Maria asked.

"Going out of her mind with worry."

"But you don't think there's anything weird about Lance disappearing, do you? I mean, you're not doing this story because you think there's aliens involved or anything?"

Sarah Jane quickly shot down Maria's theory and then asked about Lance's friend Brandon.

Brandon was playing on a large arcade game in a café. He didn't turn when Maria and Sarah Jane walked in so Maria greeted him. Even then he continued to play on his game.

Maria kept trying until Brandon growled out, "What do you want?"

"Hi, I'm Sarah Jane." Sarah Jane said from Brandon's other side. "I want to ask you some questions about Lance."

Brandon's character was finally killed and the top scores came up. Brandon pointed at the top five ID's which were all the same.

"Halo?" Sarah Jane read aloud.

"Yeah, that's Lance. He's the nuts." Brandon said and began to walk off.

Sarah Jane turned to Maria and inquired about what the word 'nuts' meant.

"It means very good." Maria said. "Or something along those lines."

They walked over to join Brandon at a table. He had got himself a drink and sat there taking sips from it.

"I was meant to meet him on Saturday in the park and then go to the arcade."

"And did you?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Well, he never showed. I thought the storm might have put him off." Brandon said.

Sarah Jane remembered back to Saturday. There hadn't been a storm as far as she could remember.

"Saturday was warm and sunny. I remember. I was in the garden until dark."

Saturday had been fun. Alan and Maria had come round and the group had talked and played games. The best game by far had been Scrabble but Luke, who had entered the game late, had joined Penny's team and the victors had pretty much been decided on from them on.

"Yeah, well, it was weird, wasn't it. It only lasted a minute. All these clouds came up the hill and then it just poured on me. And then the clouds just vanished, and it was blue skies again. I mean, it was weird." Brandon said, trying to back up his story.

"Frightening?" Sarah Jane suggested.

Brandon nodded.

Luke was sitting at a picnic table, drawing shapes on the surface in front of him. He looked up when he heard Penny and Clyde coming but didn't say anything until the two of them sat down.

"You know, for a while there I thought you'd gone AWOL with Lance. I've been looking all over for you." Penny said.

"Why?" Luke asked.

He had not been expecting to have been followed.

"Because that's what friends do when one of them is hurting. They try and help. Friends shouldn't grass each other up. I'm sorry."

Luke looked at Clyde confused and then checked that his friend had not covered him in grass. Both Clyde and Penny could guess the next question.

"How did you 'grass me up'?" Luke asked.

"Look, we'll get back to Slang 101 another day. Ding, ding. New class: how the Corporal doing a runner has got nothing to do with Luke."

"Don't call him that!" Luke snapped, looking at Clyde with horror in his innocent eyes.

"He's not here." Penny reminded him.

"It doesn't matter. I wasn't trying to be cruel, I was trying to be funny."

"We know, bro. Not everyone was born to be funny. Like Clyde clearly wasn't."

Luke managed a smile at Clyde's shocked and hurt expression.

The creature, Kudlak, was sitting in his control room, studying the screens. Then a familiar hiss filled the air and Kudlak turned to one screen, looking at his Mistress.

"I am here, Mistress."  
"Time grows short. You must bring me children, Kudlak. Fresh, strong children." the alien mistress pleaded.

"I will, Mistress." the creature vowed.

"This hunger for blood, it never ends!" the Mistress exclaimed.

Kudlak understood.

"You shall have what you need, Mistress. Soon you shall have all the children you need."

Mr Smith was showing picture after picture of children, each one ranging in ages from zero to eighteen. Maria was shocked at the number of them. It was a startlingly large number.

"Have all these kids really gone missing in a year?"

Her question was met by a sorrowful nod from Sarah Jane. The mother of two, however, didn't want to dwell on it.

"Mister Smith, we need to cross reference these disappearances with reports of localised freak weather conditions." Sarah Jane said.

The computer began it's work.

"I don't get it." Maria told Sarah Jane. "What does this storm have to do with Lance going missing?"

"Well, that's what we're going to find out. I don't think Brandon is the sort of boy to be scared by any normal storm, do you? Maybe there is something weird about Lance's disappearance after all."

After a few seconds, Mr Smith came back with his results.  
"I have a data match for twenty-four children."

"Twenty-four?" Sarah Jane exclaimed in disbelief.

She couldn't believe no one had made the link if twenty-four children had gone missing.

"Their disappearances all coincide with instances of unexpected but short lived torrential rain." Mr Smith said, his screen changing to a map of the UK and pinpointing where each child had disappeared from.

"All towns and cities." Maria pointed out.

"Why would it rain like that?" Sarah Jane inquired.  
"Insufficient data." the computer confessed.

"Well, Mister Smith, maybe we can get you some more."

Sarah Jane was rather impressed with her work. She had collected all manner of metal objects – both human and alien – from around the attic and house and had patched them together into some sort of machine that she hoped would get her the information that Mr Smith needed. Maria had watched and helped but now it was time to just add the finishing touches.

"Now, put those rubber gloves on and pass me those two metal cylinders one at a time." Sarah Jane said.

Maria reached for the two strangely shaped objects Sarah Jane had pointed two without gloves.

"No! I said put the gloves on first!" Sarah Jane snapped and Maria did as she was told. "Those are made from Cibrianite Flux. Touch them both at the same time and without protection and you complete an electroneurological circuit which will put you out cold for an hour."

Maria handed the metal objects one by one to Sarah Jane who fitted them onto the machine. She talked she as did so.

"Oh. You know, we should get my dad over. He's good at DIY. We could say it's my science project. He's got lots of tools." Maria remarked.

Sarah Jane looked at her as she produced an oxy-acetylene torch.

"Bet he hasn't got one of these. Stand back."

"Sometimes it feels like I'll never fit into this world. When I made a joke about Lance's name, it felt like a breakthrough because people laughed. But instead, it was another social miscalculation."

"Gaffe, Luke. It was a gaffe." Clyde told him.

"Last week you two said a gaffe was were a dude lived.

"It's different." Penny said. "Just stick to the text, bro."

"You see, things are so complex." Luke moaned.

Penny and Clyde both looked at each other. They needed to find a way of getting through to Luke and they both nodded to say it was time to bring out the big guns.  
"Complex? You want to be grateful your old man didn't run off with your Aunt Melba."

"At least he knew his dad, my dad was killed before I was even born and yet everyone expects me to live up to his legacy when no one is willing to tell me anything about him! Luke, you think life is complex? Wanta swap lives for a day?"

"We're experts in complex." Clyde told Luke.  
"You can explain things to me?"

"We can try." Penny informed her brother, squeezing his hands across the table.

"Go on, anything you want. Take your best shot." Clyde challenged.

Luke glanced at a group of teenagers who was playing football and settled upon his question.

"What's the purpose of games?" Luke asked.

"Why play games?" Clyde replied, slowly, trying to consider his full answer.

"Cause they're fun." Penny tried but Luke shook his head.

He pulled out one of the flyers the man had given them and placed it on the table.

"This looks like war and war isn't fun but it's a game." Luke said.

Clyde picked up the flyer and studied it.

"It's a laugh." Clyde said.

"But war isn't fun." Luke protested.

"You know what? There's not going to be any convincing you out here. Lets go so you can try it out." Penny said, grabbing the leaflet and slipping it into her pocket.

Grantham, the man from earlier, walked into the office and was met by Kudlak.

"Mistress is worried. It has been a month, yet our returns are minimal." Kudlak hissed.

Grantham frowned. He was used to being blamed for what was happening between Kudlak and his strange Mistress.

"I can't help it if the kids are low grade." Grantham pointed out. "Your mistress should come down. We could stick her in a sandwich board. She could hand out some flyers."

Kudlak threw himself up from where he was sitting and glared at Grantham.

"Do not mock my, Mistress." he spat.

Grantham was suddenly scared, stammering over his words. Kudlak didn't care about his fear. He continued.

"Neither of us is irreplaceable. Not I and certainly not you."

Some people had given Maria and Sarah Jane strange looks as they had wheeled the large contraption up the hill of the park. The contraption had been covered but it was still large and hard to wheel around. Sarah Jane pulled of the covers with a happy smile.

"Right, this is where Brandon got caught in the rain. Come on, let's get her going."

The two of them began to work, spinning dials and flicking switches. When everything was done, Sarah Jane pulled down on a lever. A beam of golden energy was fired into the sky. Maria laughed happily but nothing happened. Sarah Jane looked concerned at the screen, looking for readings. She didn't get anything. Stubbornly she powered the machine up again and fired more golden energy into the clouds.

Suddenly the clouds began to rain some sort of golden beans. Maria smiled as she watched it and then began to laugh happily. Sarah Jane joined her, mostly through pride at the machine. Quickly they collected them up.

Mr Smith had scanned the beans and was beginning to give his verdict.

"Particles identified as entanglement shells." Mr Smith said simply.

"What are entanglement shells?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Used by climate engineers to terraform hostile planet environments in order to support life. They stimulate rainfall."

"Ealing doesn't need terraforming." Maria laughed. "We get too much rain as it is."

"Might I continue?" Mr Smith inquired in annoyed tone. "You are picking up bad habits from Penny, Maria. Entanglement shells can also be a byproduct of some form of transdimensional energy dispersal."

"By what?" Maria asked.

"Teleportation." Sarah Jane said. "Aliens."

"Lance was kidnapped by aliens."

"Oh, they've been kidnapping people from Earth for decades for one reason or another. The question is, why Lance? And from where? Mister Smith, can you pinpoint the centre of the storm on Saturday?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Weather geostationary satellites record every hour and are unlikely to have registered such a brief meteorological anomaly. I will access a military satellite."

Clyde led the way into the room. He smiled as he looked around and saw rows of sensors and lasers. He patted Luke on the back and led the two Smith children towards a block of sensors. They slipped into them as other children their age walked in. Penny began to explain about what would happen to Luke. Penny's sensor had a large white eight on it, Clyde's had a large nine on and Luke's has a large ten. Clyde took over explaining laser tag to Luke when Penny was distracted by getting to know the feel of the weapon.

"It's a last man standing sort of thing." Clyde said.  
"Or last woman, as the case _will_ be." Penny remarked.

"But I still don't get the point." Luke moaned.

"You just wait 'til the adrenaline starts pumping. You'll see." Clyde said.

Penny was about to say something when a voice crackled over the tannoy system.

"Attention! Warriors of the future, take your places at the arena doors. Prepare to do battle! Show no mercy! Take no prisoners! This is a fight for survival! Only one can be the ultimate warrior! Battle commences in ten seconds."

Grantham frowned as he saw Luke and Penny standing in the group. Luke was looking down at his feet while Penny was talking to a different boy near her.

_She's ashamed to be seen with that boy._ Grantham thought.

"Well, Grantham, have you brought me good stock?" Kudlak hissed, his smelly breath causing Grantham to choke.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up yet." Grantham said, staring at Luke over the screen.

"Four."

Clyde elbowed Luke in the ribs and got the boy to look at him.

"Three."

"Take no prisoners, mate." Clyde instructed.

"Two."

Clyde turned to Penny and saw she had pulled up her hood. She quickly did the same.

"One!" the tannoy announced.

The doors opened and the group hurried out, splitting up into different directions.

Mr Smith had brought up the London area on his screen. He introduced the clip as 'animated data from a NATO satellite covering Western Europe taken on Saturday at sixteen oh four hours.' The film was quick and the storm flew out over London in seconds, retracting away to nothing just as fast.

"Run it again and slow it down." Sarah Jane said and turned to Maria. "People never really vanish without a trace. There's always a footprint, a tyre track, something. You've just got to know where to look." She turned back to Mr Smith. "Stop! Show me what's right there, at the heart of it."

Mr Smith zoomed in on the building and then showed a street level view of it, a picture of the building Penny, Luke and Clyde were inside.

"I know that place!" Maria exclaimed. "We were there earlier."

Maria pulled out the flyer Penny had given her and showed it to Sarah Jane.

"Combat 3000."

Clyde kept a close eye on Luke. He was worried about his friend. Luke kept getting hit. It wasn't that everyone was shooting at him, it was simply that he didn't seem to be fully immersed in the game. Suddenly a figure ran across the corridor and pulled Luke into cover with them. Clyde followed them. The figure seemed to be teaching Luke how to hold his gun properly. As Clyde walked closer, he could see the figure telling Luke to be aware of everything around him, to react like he's fighting an alien or some sort of enemy. Clyde edged closer and raised his gun. The figure spotted him and pulled Luke down, shooting Clyde's sensor. Clyde gasped as he recognised Penny standing there, her hood only partly covering her face. He pulled back his hood.

"Clyde?" Penny sniggered. "I..."

Anything she had been about to say was lost to her sniggering.

"Do you want to team up?" Luke asked. "We could be like the three musketeers."

"Only armed with laser guns instead of swords." Clyde remarked but agreed.

"I'll do it but only to make up for shooting Clyde." Penny smirked.

They edged towards the end of their hiding place.

"Clyde, cover ten O'clock. Luke, twelve. I'll get two."

"What on Earth are you going on about?" Clyde asked but pointed his gun roughly in the direction Penny had told him to.

"Oh, yeah, I'm guessing me using my UNIT training to instruct you guys is kinda cheating." Penny said.

Suddenly two teenaged boys raced past. Penny shot them both without even blinking.

"I think I wouldn't mind taking orders from Penny." Luke said, slowly.

"Okay, you two move, I'll cover you." Penny instructed with a nod.

Grantham watched the three of them. The boy who hadn't been wearing a hood had been doing badly until he had teamed up. Now he had surpassed the other boy. The three teenagers had taken a stairwell at that moment, the girl at the top, offering cover while the two boys protected the lower level.

"Not such a mummy's boy after all?" Grantham remarked.

"Someone shows promise." Kudlak said.

"There's these three kids. They'll all good but one of the boys, he's different. Improved lots just this game – faster than anyone else I've seen."

"I smell warrior blood." Kudlak said, watching as the two boys raced up the stairs to join the girl who shot out a teenager who was following them.

"The Mistress will be pleased." Kudlak remarked.

The game had finished and each of the three were slightly breathless but happy. They had all enjoyed it. They all stared up at the screen to see their scores and then checked their numbers.

"Penny, you won." Luke congratulated.

"And you came second." Penny pointed out. "And Clyde came third."

There was a large margin between the top three and the others but Clyde felt slightly defeated that the other two had beaten him.

"For Luke it's beginner's luck and Penny has had training. We should handicap you... To make it fairer for the others, of course."

"She did handicap herself." Luke replied. "She used her left hand when she's really right handed."

"She should use her foot." Clyde smirked. "Maybe we should go again."

"I thought you said this game was for kids." Penny challenged with a gentle smirk.

"Yeah, it is, but it's all part of Luke's education. Don't worry, it's not like I'm enjoying it or anything."

"Of course not."

Clyde managed a smile at Penny but he felt a slight blush dance across his cheeks. He struggled to hide it.

"That's one mighty score, soldier eight." a man said behind the three.

"I've had practise." Penny said with a gentle smirk.

"I haven't seen you here before." Grantham said.

"I practised somewhere else."

There was a tone of threat in Penny's voice that made even Clyde shudder. He knew Penny would never fore-fill the threat but the intimidation alone was enough to get Grantham to drop it. He turned to Luke.

"You're score's great too."

"Clyde says it was beginner's luck, but I've got better reflexes and hand to eye coordination than most kids." Luke said.

Grantham made an off-hand comment about Luke that Penny glared at and it was immediately dropped. To stop a fight from breaking out, Clyde interrupted.

"I was showing him what to do. He's Luke, which makes me Obi Wan Kenobi. Soldier Seven. How's it going?"

"You weren't showing him what to do. I was." Penny pointed out.

"Shut up, Leia." Clyde sniggered.

"Okay, listen up. Me and Mister Kudlak, he's the proprietor, we run a special competition for the more skilled competitors. It's Level Two. Now, what do you think? Are you up for it?"

"Yeah!" Clyde cheered.

"Good." Grantham said and began to lead the three teenagers away.

Luke turned to Clyde as they walked off.

"I thought you would have preferred to be Hans Solo." Luke told him.

"What? Why?"

"Because Hans has a thing for Leia." Luke explained. "Just like you have a thing for..."

"I don't have a thing for Penny." Clyde lied.

Maria and Sarah Jane walked up to Combat 3000 cashier. She was a bored middle aged woman who seemed more interested in her nails than the job.

"Welcome to the unique gaming experience that is Combat 3000. Zap Those Drones." the woman droned.

"Hi. I'd like to book a party. I've heard a lot about this place. Apparently, it's the _nuts_."

Maria winced and grabbed Sarah Jane's arm, whispering in her ear to never say that word again.

"I wouldn't if I were you." the woman said.

"I'm sorry?"

"For her, is it? I'd take her to see a film. You don't want to come here. It's mental. Used to be lovely and peaceful till Mister Grantham took over." the woman said.

Sarah Jane smiled. She had a name, that was one of the things she needed. The woman would probably give her more if she just let her talk.

"Him and his partner, Mister Kudlak. Not that anybody ever sees him."

"Would it be possible to speak to him?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Do you know, it always seems to be raining since they moved in. My sister's offered me a part time in the tanning salon and I'm thinking, well, you only live once." the woman continued.

Realised that they weren't going to get anything else of use out of the woman, Sarah Jane lead Maria out of the lobby. At first the woman called after them but she was distracted by a different costumer and got back to her job.

"See him? He does kickboxing. She does athletics for the county, and he's in the football A team. This is wicked! It's like Premier League for laser tag." Clyde said, scanning the other people in the room with them.

Penny recognised a few. Of the five girls in the room, she had competed – and won – against two of them in different sports events. Grantham was standing at the front of the room, scanning the teenagers. A screen behind him lit up, showing a map of the arena.

"Okay, guys. Well done for getting through to Level Two. New arena, new objective. You will be split into four disbursement groups. You will access the arena from here, here and here. When the first siren sounds, you break for cover. When the second siren sounds, the mission begins." Grantham said.

"Mission?" Luke repeated.

"The first soldier to make it through the door, down the corridor and into this chamber, will win their place in the World Championships."

"They have a laser tag World Championships?" Clyde exclaimed.

"That's kinda why he said it." Penny said.

"Now this time, you don't get one hundred lives. You get ten."

"Piece of cake." Clyde remarked as the other competitors looked around a bit shocked.

"Do you think so? A word of advice, son. The ultimate Warrior of the Future is always on guard for surprise attacks."

Maria pointed at a door to an office. She had seen the name tag and was Grantham's and Kudlak's. She guessed it was a good place to start. Sarah Jane agreed and produced her sonic, firing at the lock on the door. Maria opened it and they both slipped in.

Clyde provided cover for Penny and Luke as the two teenagers followed him up to a small alcove that gave them enough place to hide in.

"The others are playing by the old rules, last man standing. If we work as a team, we'll have the strategic advantage." Luke said.

"Great." Penny agreed.

"Like I said, piece of cake." Clyde remarked as the teenagers pushed themselves out of hiding.

"Which way now, Luke?" Penny asked.

The other teenagers hadn't had chance to memorise the map so were searching blindly for the door but Luke had memorised it completely. He was showing Penny and Clyde the way. Luke pointed down a corridor and the group went in that direction.

Kudlak was watching the Level Two competition when an alarm sounded. He tapped a few keys and then got a view of the office. He frowned when he saw Maria and Sarah Jane looking around.

"Grantham! Grantham!" he bellowed.

Papers were now covering the desk as Sarah Jane and Maria sorted through all of the files in the hope of finding something that could link Combat 3000 with aliens or the missing children.

"Perhaps I can help." Grantham said, walking in and looking at Sarah Jane and Maria.

The two turned and saw Grantham.

"Mister Grantham, I presume. Not Mister Kudlak. No, I hear he likes to stay in the shadows. I wonder why that is?"

"Who are you and what are you doing in my office?" Grantham demanded.

Sarah Jane introduced herself and Maria as a journalist and her work experience girl. She did it without telling Grantham Maria's name.

"I'm doing a story on laser games and their effect on aggression levels among young people." Sarah Jane lied.

Grantham growled out the classic line 'no comment'.

"Any comment on Lance Metcalf, the boy that disappeared three days ago?"

There was silence from Grantham.

"Twenty four children have disappeared recently. Manchester, Brighton, Leeds, Inverness. All cities where there's a Combat 3000. Every time, in the middle of a freak storm. Still no comment, Mister Grantham?"

"Do you know why people come to Combat 3000, Miss Smith? They come for the guns." Grantham said, producing a small alien handgun.

Kudlak watched as Clyde saved Penny from being shot by taking out her attacker while they provided cover for Luke. He smiled.

"A soldier that fights alone, dies alone. These three will do, Mistress."

"Good, Kudlak, send them to me. Send them to me."  
"In the name of the Emperor, it shall be done, Mistress." Kudlak said.

He pressed down on a series of buttons.

Clyde, Luke and Penny looked out from behind their cover in time to see a wall panel slide open. Between them and the door was an open-plan space, easy for an attack.

"How many lives you have?" Clyde asked.

"Six." Luke answered.

"Seven." Penny smirked. "You?"

"Four." Clyde a felt a bit annoyed that the Smith kids were still managing to best him. "I think we're ahead of the opposition. Are you ready?"

Luke nodded but Penny looked a bit unsure.

"You know that feeling you get when something is just too easy. I'm getting it now. Perhaps the manager was right when he told us to be ready for a surprise attack." Penny said.  
"Okay." the boy agreed.

Penny hadn't been wrong about anything in the game yet.

"I'm ready to rock." Clyde added.  
"I'm ready to roll." Luke smiled.

"You're like the Chuckle brothers with laser guns." Penny remarked as they walked out into the space, towards the door.

Suddenly helmeted players appeared. They were older than teenagers, probably adults, and wearing black biker helmets. Each of them had a laser gun.

"Move!" Grantham barked, pointing Sarah Jane and Maria against his desk.

They moved there slowly but kept calm faces.

"Oh, please don't be offended, but this isn't the first time I've had a gun pointed at me. And guns from other planets. Oh, I'm afraid I've rather lost count."

Grantham smiled.

"Will you die happy if I tell you I'm impressed?" Grantham said.

"I'll die happy when I get Lance Metcalf and the other twenty three children you've kidnapped back to their parents safe and well." Sarah Jane snapped.

"Don't worry about them, Miss Smith." Grantham smiled. "Children adore war games."

Clyde was sure he could hear Penny whooping as they took out the helmeted players. Luke had reached the door first, making a break for it while Clyde and Penny had given him cover. He had been hit once but hadn't stopped running. Luke then provided cover for Clyde and Penny as they ran towards him. They kept their guns trained on the door even as it shut out the helmeted players. Keeping their guns up, the children made their way down the corridor they had found themselves in.

Maria noticed with a dread in her stomach that it had suddenly started raining.

"It's raining." she told Sarah Jane, wondering if the woman had come to the same conclusion as her.

"They're powering up the teleporter." Sarah Jane hissed back.

Kudlak was watching all that was going on from the control room. He was aware that Grantham was wasting time. He pulled a microphone to his lips and hissed for him to hurry up.

Grantham winced and held his ear when powerful feedback came through his radio.

"Don't you have any conscience about what you're doing with those children, Mister Grantham?" Sarah Jane asked in a last ditch attempt to get out of there without having to hurt Grantham.

She had seen a way she could manage it but she wasn't keen on the idea.

"Let me tell you about conscience. A conscience is like a stone in your shoe. You cannot begin to imagine the relief once you get rid of it. Goodbye, Miss Smith." Grantham sneered.

Sarah Jane frowned and then nodded.

"Just a moment, please. Just a moment. Bit of lippy. Last request." Sarah Jane said.

Grantham smiled and nodded. Sarah Jane pulled out her sonic and raised it to her lips, making it look like she was about to apply it. Instead she fired it at Grantham's ear. The earpiece combined with the sonic knocked Grantham to his knees. It gave Sarah Jane and Maria time to escape.

"We need to find the transporter and shut it down!" Sarah Jane said, hurrying from the room with Maria following her.

Maria and Sarah Jane stood in the control room, trying to work out what they were looking for. They could see everything on the screens but the controls were a mess of wires and strange buttons. They had no idea what controlled what. Then Sarah Jane's eyes settled on a screen. She grabbed Maria's arm and angled her gaze up to the screen. It showed Penny, Luke and Clyde sitting in the room they had found at the end of the corridor.

The three teenagers were bathed in light and they turned to each other, not understanding what was happening. Suddenly they disappeared.

"No!" Sarah Jane shouted as her children and Clyde disappeared.

"Be proud of them." Kudlak said, getting Sarah Jane and Maria to turn.

Sarah Jane stepped between Kudlak and Maria. There was no way Kudlak was going to take any more of her gang.

"Where have you sent them? Where?" Sarah Jane demanded.

"Into darkness." Kudlak hissed, cruelly.

* * *

Did you get was Luke was implying with the whole Star Wars thing? I don't know who let him watch Star Wars, probably Penny, but I thought it was really funny so... YOLO!


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